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A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial phrase as:
For example, "You are what you eat" is represented in the painting by a carrot eating a carrot. The painting also contains hidden social commentary, and a reference to Pieter Bruegel the Elder (a favorite of the artist) who did a 1559 painting of Dutch proverbs. The title Proverbidioms is a simple portmanteau word combining "proverb" with "idioms".
An extreme example of the borrowing and spread of proverbs was the work done to create a corpus of proverbs for Esperanto, where all the proverbs were translated from other languages. [ 99 ] It is often not possible to trace the direction of borrowing a proverb between languages.
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
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[1]: 239 Similar proverbs in English include "Still waters run deep" and "Empty vessels make the most sound." [2] There have been like proverbs in other languages, for example the Talmudic [1]: 241 proverb in the Aramaic language, "if a word be worth one shekel, silence is worth two", which was translated into English in the 17th century.