№ 01 Kazakhstan
The Red Tongue
Өнер алды — қызыл тіл
öner aldy — qyzyl til
Why Kazakhs rank eloquence as the first of all the arts — and how Yoruba, Arabic, and other proverbs weigh the same tongue as vehicle, as weapon, and as liability.
Parallel & Proverbs
A weekly literary miscellany
Read by the tongue
Kazakh
1 Kazakh proverb read closely — filed under Speech vs Action and Merit; set beside cousins in Yoruba, Persian and Turkish.
Kazakh proverbs, at a glance
-
The first of all the arts is eloquence
Өнер алды — қызыл тіл
Öner aldy — qyzyl til
Literally: The front of the arts — the red tongue
Kazakh · Kazakhstan
Set beside
- Yoruba — also exalts verbal art, but as a vehicle that retrieves meaning, where the Kazakh ranks eloquence as the summit of all skill
- Arabic — the tongue's power as a weapon; the Kazakh's is the tongue's power as the highest craft
- the tongue's softness and danger; the same organ, weighed as liability rather than as art