Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
VOLUME 30:2013
TABLE OF CONTENTS
iii
PREFACE
vii
ARTICLES
Peter-Jazzy Ezeh
In Capsule: Saws and Sex Mores Among the
Igbo of Nigeria
..........................................................................
Heather A.Haas
If It Walks Like a Proverb and Talks Like a Question:
Proverbial and Other Formulaic Interrogatives
19
. . . . . . . ...... . . . ......
LeeHartman
"Que sera sera": The English Roots of a
Pseudo-Spanish Proverb
.......
51
Marija A. Kul'kova
Die Realisierungsformen des kommunikativ
pragmatischen Frames ,Erlaubnis" in den russischen
und deutschen Bauernregeln
105
.113
Kevin J. McKenna
The Tolstoy "Connection": Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's
In the First Circle Through the Prism of Peasant
Proverbs in War and Peace and Anna Karenina
l51
..................
Wolfgang Mieder
"My Tongue
171
...........................................................................
PROVERBIUM
30 (2013)
Dietmar Peil
................................................................................
227
Roumyana Petrova
........
.............................
255
281
....... ............
....................................... ................ . . . . . . . .
311
Brienne Toomey
333
............................ ...................................
Vilmos Voigt
Paremiology
347
..........................................................................
Stephen D. Winick
. . . . . . .........................................
377
REVIEWS
Pedro Benavente Jareiio and Xesus Ferro Ruibal.
0 libro da vaca. Monograjfa etnolingii{stica do
.............
...............................
.429
(Hildesheim: 2012)
......
........ . . .. . . .. ......447
...
..
..
..
..
......
..
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Wolfgang Mieder
International Bibliography of New and
Reprinted Proverb Collections . . .. .. .. .. . .... .. .. . . ... . . . . .471
.
..
..
..
Wolfgang Mieder
International Proverb Scholarship:
An Updated Bibliography .. ... ..
.
.....
. .... ...
.
. . ...
282
tampe or proverb
(gtam) without illustration (dpe) is diffi
283
284
practical
application.
(Lhag-pa
chos-'phel
2006: 99)
Indigenous scholars classify tampe thematically as political,
economical, ethical and so forth or according to form:
Judged from their content, Tibetan tampe can be differ
entiated into political, economical, cultural, common
sensual, and class struggle, etc. tampe. In terms of form
they can be differentiated into tampe found in narrations
and those which are not. Furthermore, in terms composi
tion tampe may be differentiated among others into
tampe which consist of both a literal and figurative
285
into the Gesar Epic. In other words, it may represent later inter
286
The Structure
tampe
tampe.
has been rare and seems to only recently have started among Ti
betan scholars. The discovery and collection of huge amounts of
tampe followed
densed (tib.
tampe
are iso
tampe with
287
1984, 12-13).
The authors go further in describing the intriguing nature of
13).
To be sure, these reflections serve merely as general assess
ments, and the contention that tampe may vary to such a degree
strongly suggests that the key to a better understanding of this
genre is not to be found in the prescriptive structure, but within
the area of semantics. The term tampe -commonly translated as
proverb or saying.17- denotes a much broader genre and encom
passes proverbs as well as longer texts often described as khata
(tib. kha ta) or labja (tib. bslab bya). While this may be inter
preted as gnomic or 'didactic' in content and therefore qualify as
proverb, formally many examples show characteristics of related
genres such as songs, speeches, etc., and transgress the basic
quality of a proverb as a short, syntactically and discursively in-
288
term tampe; the wider notion includes almost all didactic and
289
pech6
pech6
nous product.?'
The original
should,
are
known."
1999: 140)
pecho has
been intro
pechO
pech023 , the
term is current
pecho,
but also
pechO
290
Khape
Tibetan dictionaries usually do not offer major definitions
neither for tampe nor for khape (tib. kha dpe). Still, there are
some deliberate attempts by some to see a distinction between
those terms. So for instance A-khyig makes the following claim:
The majority of so-called khape among the people are
usually said to convey a special meaning constructed by
the oral tradition of the populace [... ] Generally, khape
are of folk origin and are used as illustration when con
veying a particular [regional] meaning, whereas tampe
are used to convey a general meaning. In terms of its
composition khape have uneven numbers of syllables,
whereas tampe have an even number (A-khyig 1992:
75f).
In the light of A-khyig's explanation, besides the formal cri
teria of isosyllabism, the basic difference between tampe and
khape (tib. kha dpe), in his eyes, seems to be found in the seman
tic denotation. Khape accordingly denotes a concrete instance
only regionally current, whereas tampe generalize a concrete
situation well known throughout the Tibetan language communi
ty. However, besides A-khyig's remarks above, we do not have
any evidence for this terminological distinction in Tibetan and
will treat the terms as synonyms.
291
The terms lu and shii (tib. glu gzhas), both are generally
translated as songs, here refer to folk songs (tib. dmangs glu I
dmangs gzhas, cf. S!llrensen
1990: 11).
1992: 76).25
Aphorisms
Aphorisms (tib. legs bshad, lugs; skt. subha:jita, nui) form a
literary scholastic genre in Tibet in the first place closely associ
ated with the scholar Sa-skya Pal).<;lita
(1182-1251)
292
pithiness
anonymous authorship
lore of people)
as didactic-edificatory and gnomic content
Our attempt at finding an ethnographic definition shows that
the genre of tampe shares many similarities with proverbs, nev
ertheless the emphasis is on the didactic-gnomic nature as well
as the use of exempla and comparisons. However, in order to be
able to decide whether a given tampe actually also qualifies as
proverb further investigation remains necessary.
Norrick provides a feature matrix definition enabling us to
differentiate between all folk genres including proverbs, prover
bial phrases, riddles, songs, jokes etc. along structural and func
tional lines. Leaving aside the differentiation from non-folk gen
res such as aphorisms and epigrams for having a source, i.e. an
identifiable author, Norrick defines: "The proverb is a tradition
al, conversational, didactic genre with general meaning, a poten
tial free conversational turn, preferably with figurative meaning"
(Norrick 1985: 78).
tampe
293
tampe varies
per se.
Browsing through tampe anthologies one finds that most
tampe consist of one or two verses which all are potentially in
dependent and full statements and can be read as proverbs. Some
samples for single-lined Tibetan proverbs:
When the goat is killed, the sheep shivers?8
The chief justice is worse than a spy on the mountain
pass?9
The horn that grew on [your] head pokes [your] eyes30
The Lama's butter is eaten by the Lama's dog.31
However, most Tibetan
294
Music of Outspoken Speech (Zol med gtam gyi rol mo) : 32F38
"[... ] since Zhamar Tulku and Dechos Tulku went for
private purposes on a pilgrimage tour, without being on
[there] on [an official Tibetan] governmental errand,
there was no one hindering any of them from returning
to their homeland [i.e. Tibet]. Firstly, they went to Nepal
295
]"
in
order
to
criticize
the
vicious behavior
of
the
(3)
shog sbug rlung bskyod, and the one-liner (2) 'dres ma dran nad
pas dran with the proverbial affix "according to the illustration"
(tib. dpe ltar). While it is easy, especially through the use of a
proverbial affix, to identify
(3) suggest, de
296
297
298
1.
2.
Bod kyi kha dpe'i rin chen gter mdzod. 2006. 2nd ed.
3.
4.
5.
dpe-skrun-khang.
8.
9.
skrun-khang.
Bsod-nams rgyal-mtshan. 2003. Nag chu'i dmangs khrod
gtam dpe. Lha-sa: Bod-ljongs mi-dmangs dpe-skrun
13.
khang.
Bu-chung, Bde-skyid sgrol-dkar, and Bde-skyid mtsho
mo, eds. 1992. Bod ljongs lho kha sa gnas zangs ri
rdzong gi dmangs khrod rtsom rig legs bsdus cha tshang
gsum.
Zangs
ri
rDzong:
Lho-kha
zangs-ri-rdzong
299
16.
17. Gar-gyi nyi-ma, ed. 1992. Bod kyi kha dpe'i gter mdzod.
Pe-cin: Mi-rigs dpe-skrun-khang.
18.
19.
20.
Deb
dang
po.
Lha-sa:
Lho-kha
sa-khul
gyi
300
35. Dpa'-ris Sangs-rgyas, ed. 1985. Dpe chos rna ba'i bdud
rtsi. Zi-ling: Mtsho-sngon mi-rigs dpe-skrun-khang.
36. Dpa'-ris Sangs-rgyas, ed. 1999. Dpe chos tshig mdzod.
Zi-ling: Mtsho-sngon mi-rigs dpe-skrun-khang.
37. Sbyin-pa rgya-mtsho, ed. 1997. Bod kyi kha dpe rin chen
gter mdzod. Dharamsala: Shes-rig par-khang.
38. Shes-rab mtha'-yas, ed. 1987. Byis pa'i legs bshad dang
rdzong kha'i kha dpe. no pi., India: no publ.
39. Thung Cin-hwa, and Skal-bzang don-'grub. 2011. Bod
rigs kyi gtam dpe. Khren-tu: Si-khron mi-rigs dpe-skrun
khang.
301
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
8.
9.
302
im
dPe
chos
des
Po-to-ba
Rin-chen-gsal.
13.
14.
and
Notes).
Abhandlungen
der
Deutschen
Notes
1 This proverb comes in many variants; the one cited here was found in
Hor-khang Bsod-nams dpal-'bar 2004: 153. Cf. also Clippers and Srensen
1998: xxvii.
2
lables and come in pairs. Mostly they are used over a long time and they are
largely stable in form. Because it has the capability of serving successfully in
being appealing as. well as rendering elegantly syntax and lexic, they are not
only widely applicable both in oral and written form, [but also] they have been
handed down in the oral tradition from the moment they were created up to
now [... ]" ('Brug-'bum-rgyal 2007: 82-85). See also Bstan-'dzin don-grub
2010: 21-31.
3
The term
natsig (tib. gna' tshig) is used as a general term for oaths and
natsig and tampe is briefly analyzed in
Yul-lha-thar and Sgra-dbyangs lha-mo 2009. While swear words share many
features of proverbs they certainly constitute a different genre.
4
Cf. 'Bri-gung Rnam-rgyal 2008: 61. While this is generally true for prov
303
or a maxim. An anecdote recounts that the 9'h Panchen Lama used to keep a
parrot. One day he set the parrot free with the words: "When a man gets old he
longs for his home and when a bird gets old he misses the top of the trees."
Thus arguably the famous proverb "When people get old, they miss home.
When birds get old they miss the forest." came into being. The story neverthe
less serves to illustrate how a proverb easily turns into a winged word or vice
versa (personal communication with Klu-ma-tshal Zla-ba tshe-ring, Lhasa, 2"ct
May 2012). In truth, the saying is a well-known tampe of much older proveni
ence, cited e.g. in Rdo-ring Pa1,1c,lita's celebrated Memoirs Music of Outspoken
Speech; cf. Clippers and Sl?lrensen 1998: xx. Modem variants abound e.g. from
eastern Tibet (tib. khams) in G.yag-dgra khra-sbog and Rdo-rko Ngag-dbang
dge-legs 2009: 402, or from north-eastern Tibet (tib. a mdo) in Mkhar Bskal
bzang blo-gsal 2005: 299.
5
in 1957. A few samples as cited and translated by Thomas 1957: 107f. from the
Sum-pa collection of apothegms demonstrate their commonsensical, popular
content and their genuine antithetical, proverbial structure.
7
Cf. 'Bri-gung Rnam-rgyal 2008: 61. The interesting term shags has dif
ferent, related meanings, and is found in different combinations, like glu shags,
kha shags, and verbally shags rgyag I rtsod, often with the meaning of (giving)
an instructive answer, disputative argument, or serving as repartee retorts of
sorts.
8
10
Chab-spel writes: "In the songs of the Tibetan epic of King Gesar of
Ling we often find allover [expressions like] 'as a saying of the Tibetan people
of yore goes' when reflecting upon this, it is conceivable that the term tampe
may well have originated at the beginning of the period of fragmentation of
Tibet [i.e. ll'h century]" (Chab-spel Tshe-brtan phun-tshogs 2007: 87). See also
Chab-'gag Rta-mgrin 2008, Lhag-pa chos-'phel 2006, or 'Ba'-stod Pad-ma
dbang-rgyal and Bcud-dza G.yung-mo-skyid 2005.
To be sure, the diction in Chab-spel's sample, however, bespeaks a fairly
recent origin. It is difficult to decide whether we here should follow Chab
spel's hypotheses concerning the presence of tampe as a term in the Gesar Epic.
We withhold any judgment on this point until more evidence is available. Fur
ther linguistic corpus analysis will certainly help clarifying the history and the
first occurrence of the term.
comprises folk-tales and popular stories, folksongs and ballads and popular,
folk-based proverbs and idiomatic phrases. See Sl?lrensen 2010.
12
13
304
14
2005: 329-31.
15
are
The term mi chos is of course rather problematic and far from well de
fined.lt seems to denote a huge range of non-Buddhist belief systems and folk
lore. The translation of the term as "nameless religion", however problematic,
was proposed by R.A. Stein
when defining tampi and thus the currency of the term should be acknowl
edged.
19
the occasion of speech making i.e. when meeting a high Lama or authority etc.
are found in the recent collection Na-'ban a-nu thar-ba and Mgon-po tshe-brtan
2010. Cf. also to Rva Yum-skyabs 2001 for a brief introduction to different
sangs
study also discusses the tshig lab genre equally ascribed to Po-to-ba. The reli
gious-didactic genre enjoyed great popularity, was widely disseminated and
repeatedly commented upon right up to most recent time.
21
Cf. Dga'-ba pa-sangs 2010. Most of Po-to-ba's pechi:i can be found in
the two collections Dpe chos Rin chen spungs pa and Be 'u bum sngon po which
are
regarded as the first Tibetan collections of its sorts (Bstan- 'dzin don-grub
2010: 19).
22
See Roesler
tips. There will be no success for someone without concentration. One dog
alone does not catch two musk deers."
23
Sangs-rgyas
1999) or Dpe chos rna ba'i bdud rtsi (Dpa' -ris Sangs-rgyas 1985),
material, from the Gesar Epic (with plain proverbs like "water good, fish hap
py"), or from various literary, canonical or authored sources which cherished
quadrisyllabics like "evil talk carried [by the] wind" or, "[to] repay beer with
water". But also hexasyllabic sayings and idiomatic axioms are cited: 'the wal
nut dry, the inner rotten'; in fact they include material from earliest sources all
the way up to slogans originating with Mao.Zedong.
305
25 For Dga'-ba pa-sangs most examples from the Gesar epic do not qualify
as tampe proverbs, because they lack the characteristics of being a single pithy
22"d, 2012).
26 The greatest difficulty in defining proverbs is probably that all but one
feature can be "faked" as Arora 1989 demonstrated. She argues that a proverb
has to function as such from the very time of its invention and only a function
ing proverb may gain currency or, to use Norrick's term, traditionality. Howev
er, traditionality is the only property that cannot be "faked". The markers of
proverbiality, she concludes, vary from culture to culture. In English language
the most important marker would be metaphoricity, while, say, in Spanish it
would be prosody.
28 Tib.
ra
Bde-skyid mtsho-mo
29
1992: 410.
Tib. la kha'i so pa las I khrims bcos kyi 'go dpon sdug; Bu-chung, Bde
1992: 411.
Tib. bla ma'i mar bla ma'i khyis bzas; Bu-chung, Bde-skyid sgrol-dkar,
1992: 410.
1992: 412.
Tib. e yag bsam nas lha khang bzhengs I ma yag phug ran 'khor sa red;
1989: 190.
33 Tib. dka' las rang gis brgyabs I longs spyod mi yis btang; Tshe-brtan
nor-bu, Rdo-phun, and Byams-pa dngos-grub 1989: 195.
34 Tib. rkun ma nang la bzhag sgo lcags phyi la brgyab; Tshe-brtan nor
bu, Rdo-phun, and Byams-pa dngos-grub 1989: 197.
35 Translated by Padma-tshe-dbang 2012
36 The phrase "a paper-bag carried by the wind" denoting guilefulness and
Tshe-brtan nor-bu, Rdo-phun, and Byams-pa dngos-grub
37 Tib. che ba ro I chung ba rno; "[If it is] big [it is] a corpse [and if it is]
small [it is] sharp." Taken from 'Ba' -stod Pad-ma dbang-rgyal and Bcud-dza
2005: 331.
38 These to a large extent political memoirs detail the historical back
G.yung-mo-skyid
1788-92. This passage deals with the activities of Zhamar Tulku Chos-grub
rgya-mtsho, the younger brother of the Panchen Lama Pelden Yeshe (17381780). He attempted to mediate in the negotiations between the Nepalese on the
one side and the Tibetan and imperial Chinese on the other side. While staying
in Kathmandu, the high incarnate was suspected of colluding with the Nepalese
side as seen from the perspective of the Tibetan government (Ganden Podrang).
The quoted examples were taken from Rdo-ring Bstan-'dzin dpal-'byor
2006: 558.
39
ble of inflicting sicknesses and maladies upon human beings or intruding into
308
Lhamo.
2006.
Tibetische
Sprichworter:
Bod
kyi
gtam
dpe.
309
130-36.
Per K. S(l)rensen
Institut fiir Indologie und Zentralasienwissenschaften
UniversiUit Leipzig
SchillerstraBe 6
04109 Leipzig
Germany
E-Mail: soerensen.pk@gmx.de
Franz Xaver Erhard
GRK "Religioser Nonkonformismus und kulturelle Dynamik"
Ritterstr. 12
04109 Leipzig
Germany
E-mail: f.erhard@uni-leipzig.de