Sicilian Proverbs – Wisdom or ignorance?
Sicilian Proverbs – When talking to people about life, according to some of them the proverbs would be the quintessence of ignorance, a philosophical way of simply expressing clichés, obvious things in a catchy way. According to others, however, they are the expression of popular wisdom, a cultural heritage that collects the experiences lived by peoples and that summarize, in a few very incisive words, truths that belong to the experience of the everyday life of ordinary people.
In the form of maxim, metaphor or similitude, sometimes in rhyme, proverbs belong in fact to all peoples and exist in all languages and dialects and sometimes with minimal variations, they are the same in various parts of Italy.
We don’t know who did invent them, in fact, they are often introduced by “says the sage”, or “said the ancient” or simply without any subject and their existence is very old (there is even a book of the Bible entitled “Proverbs “).
In any case, they belong to the linguistic heritage of a nation and are a testimony of past times and the way of thinking and believing of a people.
We have collected here below our Top 5 Sicilian Proverbs that in one way or another (by custom or for the language) can be traced back to the Sicilian culture and are connected somehow to Food! If the syntax or the translation is not perfect, forgive us, we are ready to collect suggestions and correct mistakes!
1) Conzala comu vuoi, sempri cucuzza è
It litererally mean “Season as you like, but it is always zucchini” but it can be intended as Things are what they are even if you try to present them in a sweetened way.
- 2)U piru quann’è maturu cari sulu
“When the pear is ripe, it falls by itself” – If we can sum up, we can say “time will tell”!
- 3)Cu mancia fa muddichi.
Whoever eats does crumbs! Whoever does something inevitably makes mistakes or involuntary damage to something!
- 4)Carni fa carni, pani fa panza, vinu fa danza e ogni ficateddu ri musca è sustanza
“Meat makes meat, bread makes the belly grow, wine makes dancing and every liver of fly can feed you.” The meaning behind this? Little is better than nothing!
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- 2) Cu va a mannara mancia ricotta
- Literally, it can be translated as “Those who go grazing will eat ricotta”: who is working hard, deserves a reward!
This was our top 5 Sicilian Proverbs list – if you want to share with us any other Sicilian Proverbs, feel free to send us your suggestions!
A Roman poet that didn’t likw squash wrote “Quocumque modo curata semper cucurbita est!” Adopted and translated in Sicilian “Consala come voi sempre cucuzza e”
That saying comes from a Roman poet that didn’t like squash and wrote “Quocumque modo curata semper cucurbita est!” Adopted and translated in Sicilian “Consala come voi sempre cucuzza e”
[…] And if you did like to know a bit more about our Language, feel free to have a look at our article on Sicilian Proverbs! […]
Found these interesting Did ever post Sicilian superstitions?
It would be a great article to write! I’ll try to give it a go this weekend!
Thankyou for sharing . Very interesting. My dad’s from Sicily so it’s very good for me to know these things. Very interesting article.
My mother used to say
“ cu va cu zoppu a l’anno zuppichia” same meaning as
“ if you lay with dogs you’ll get fleas “
I do not speak Sicilian but my father did. The two sayings I will always remember (in English) were:
1. “The eyes of the boss fattens the horse” (just looking at your employees working assures they are earning their pay).
2. “Sometimes the grass is so soft your a** hurts.” (If you have it too easy you still find more to complain about)!
I speak the dialect from Sferrcavallo…which is quite different form the other dialects in Sicily. My mother was born there and she taught me to speak this dialect as a very little girl. She taught me many proverbs growing up that really were quite help full in making decisions. Made you think before you “did or didn’t”. would like to make contact with others that can speak this colorful dialect.
Dimmi con chi vai e ti diro’ chi sei.Mamma dice”nessuno ti dice lavati la faccia che pare pui bella di me”
[…] again we are back to talk about Sicilian proverbs, those which once provided rules of life for getting through the day! An ancient folk wisdom whose […]
[…] again we are back to talk about Sicilian proverbs, those which once provided rules of life for getting through the day! An ancient folk wisdom whose […]
[…] again we are back to talk about Sicilian proverbs, those which once provided rules of life for getting through the day! An ancient folk wisdom whose […]