How we source an essay
Every essay begins with the proverb in its original language, traced back as close to a primary collection as we can get — a national proverb dictionary, a scholarly anthology, an academic archive — rather than the recycled translations that circulate online. From there we read outward: what the words literally say, where the saying is first attested, how its sense has shifted, and which proverbs in other languages make the same structural claim rather than merely sharing a mood. The works below are the references we return to most often across the whole site; each individual essay also lists the specific sources behind it at the foot of the piece.
Foundational paremiology
- Mieder, W. (2004). Proverbs: A Handbook. Greenwood Press.
- Taylor, A. (1931). The Proverb. Harvard University Press.
- Mieder, W. (ed.) — International Bibliography of Paremiology and Phraseology.
- University of Vermont — Wolfgang Mieder Proverb Archive.
Regional anthologies
- Yale Anthology of African Proverbs.
- Refranero Multilingüe — Centro Virtual Cervantes (Spanish, multilingual).
- Mokienko, V. M. — Russian proverb dictionaries.
- Dal’, V. — Proverbs of the Russian People.
- École française d’Extrême-Orient — Khmer-language archives.
How we verify
Verification here means documented sourcing, not a stamp from a single informant. Before a word of an essay is written we gather as much as we can — the proverb traced to a primary collection, its meaning and history read across several independent references, the contexts in which the saying actually appears. The reading is then checked back against those sources, and every essay lists the specific ones it rests on at the foot of the piece. Where the record is thin or contested, we say so in the essay rather than smoothing it over.
We actively welcome corrections from people who speak these languages. If we’ve rendered a proverb flatly, mistranslated it, or misjudged how it’s used today, that is the feedback we most want — write to us via the contact page, and we credit the correction by name when the contributor wishes.