Spanish Proverbs

By

Brigitte Novelo

Spanish 435

Dr. Domnguez

20 April 2016
 In the Spanish language there are several unique styles of communication recognized

within the language. One of those ways in which Spanish speakers communicate is by

exchanging proverbs. A proverb is defined as proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a

simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based

on common sense or experience. They are often metaphorical (Wikipedia). In the state

of California, primarily the county of Los Angeles there is a large community based of

Latinos. Many of those Spanish speaking Latinos exchange proverbs everyday with

those around them. This paper will present twenty proverbs that were collected by three

informants. They are my mother and two aunts. The first informant is my mother, Elva

Novelo (E.N) who was born in Durango, Mxico. She came to the United States in 1969

when she was only seventeen years old. She was raised in a rancho that only consisted of

four houses. She believes she completed about an equivalence of a sixth grade education.

The second is my aunt Candelaria Ortega (C.O) who reached this country at age thirteen.

She was the last of her nine siblings to arrive in Los Angeles. Upon arrival in the 1980s

she was given the opportunity to complete a high school education. The third informant

is Yolanda Espinoza (Y.E), who was the first of her family to decide she wanted to come

to El Norte. Back home in Durango, Mxico she completed an education level to that

of a fifth grader. What follows now are twenty proverbs.

1. A caballo dado no se le ve colmllo (Y.E)

2. Con la bara qu tu mdes con esa seras meddo (Y.E)
3. Consejo no peddo, consejo mal odo (Y.E)
4. Cuando la fuerza manda la ley calla (E.N)
5. De dos espnas nace una flor (E.N)
6. De esas pulgas no brincn en mi petat (C.O)
7. De sabio, poeta, y loc, todos tenemos un poc (Y.E)
8. El burro hablando de orejs (Y.E)
9. El qu mucho abarca poco apreta (E.N)
10. Ladrn que rob al ladrn tiene 100 aos de perdn (C.O)
 11. Las penas con pn son menos (Y.E)
12. Lo poc agrada y lo mucho enfada (E.N)
13. Ms prnto cae un coj qu un hablador (E.N)
14. Ms val malo conocdo qu bueno para conocer (E.N)
15. Muerto el perr se acab la raba (C.O)
16. N le muerdas la mano a quen te da de comer (C.O)
17. Par qu tanto brnco estando el suelo tan parjo (E.N)
18. Quen con perrs se echa con pulgas se levanta (Y.E)
19. Tanto v el cantaro al aga asta qu se romp (E.N)
20. Vda sn amigos muerte sin testgos (E.N)

References

Proverb. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia Foundation Inc. 18 April 2016.

Web. 18 April 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proverb