Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/475

 ii s. vi. NOV. 16, 1912.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

391

GERMAN PROVERB: "GUT VERLOREN," &c.

(11 S. vi. 188.)

SINCE no one has hazarded an answer to my query, I may perhaps be allowed to translate, for the benefit of other English " proverbians," the complete answer to be found in that wonderful repertory of com- parative proverbiology (I fear my neologisms may not be on true Skeatian or Murravian principles of formation) the ' Deutsches Sprichworter-Lexikon ' of Karl. Fried. Wilh. Wander (Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1867-80, 5 vols. ), the author of ' Padagogische Brief e vom Rhein' (1845), pedagogue. Volksmann, and proverb-collector (1803-79 : see Ludwig Frankel's biography in ' Allgem. Deutsche Biographic,' vol. xli.). The proverb occurs at cols. 191 and 192 of vol. ii. of this monu- mental work, which would make dear old John Ray, one of the pioneers of our English " proverbial philosophy," as he was of our natural history and botany, lift up his eyes in gratitude to Heaven.

In 1616 Georg Henisch in ' Teutsche Spruch und Weissheit ' (Augsburg) gives (ed. 1797, 51)

Gut verlohren, muth verlohren, to which Wander adjoins the following variants or similants :

Gudt maket mot, mot maket overmodt, overmodt maket nidt, nidt maket stridt, stridt maket armot, armot maket demot. Ebstorf, 12 (i.e., ' Alte Sprich. Sammlung ' from MS. of Kloster Ebstorf, 15th or 16th century).

It is a nice puzzle to reproduce the Dutch jingle plus the sense, but I may roughly render it :

Money brings courage, courage brings arrog- ance, arrogance brings want, want brings strife, strife brings poverty, poverty brings humility.

Here is a very old German form : Guht verlohren, Muht verlohren, Ehr verlohren, mehr verlohren, Seel verlohren, Hehl verlohren. Schobbel, 1133A (Braunschweig, 1663).

I render the last line :

Soul lost, salvation (Heil) lost. Latin. Facultatum jactura nulla, spei bonae permagna, animae vero omnium est omissio bonorum. Seybold, ' Viridarium u. Lustgarten von auserlesenen Sprichwortern ' (Niirnberg, 1677), 171.

Gut gewonnen und Ehre verloren ist mehr verloren als gewonnen. Paul Winckler, xix. 49, 1 Two Thousand Good Thoughts ' (Goerlitz, 1685).

Dutch. Verlies van goed, verlies van moed. Harrebomee, ' Spreekwoordenboek der Neder- landsche Taal,' &c., 1858-66, i. 248.

Lat. Prudens videtur ille, cui sors prospera. Henisch, 1797, 53.

Vix in damno, quis sapit. Seybold, 646.

Gut verlohren, nichts verlohren ; Ehr verlohren, vil verlohren ; Gottes Wort verlobren, alles verlohren. Henisch, 1797, 55.

Gut verlohren, vil verlohren ; Zeit verlohren, mehr verlohren. Petri, ' Der Teutschen Weiss- heit ' (Hamburg, 1605), ii. 367 ; Henisch, 62.

Gut verloren, Blut verloren.

Fr. Qui perd son bien, perd son sang (sens). Cahier, ' Quelques Six Mille Proverbes et Aphor- ismes usuels ' (Paris, 1856), 1332 ; Kritzinger, 644A.

Gut verloren, Freund verloren.

Dutch. Als het goed verloopt, zoo stervcn de vrienden. Harrebomee, i. 246.

Ital. Chi perda la robba, perde gl' amici. Pazzaglia, 281, 4.

Gut verloren, nichts (wenig) verloren ; Mut verloren, halb (viel) verloren; aber Ehre (Frei- heit) verloren, alles verloren. Tappius. 197A ; Petri, ii. 367 ; Beneke, 255 ; fur Trier : Laven, 182, 55 ; Finnenich, iii. 546, 32 ; ' Siebenbiir- gisch-Sachsisch ' bei Schuster, 643A.

Danish. Gods forloret, nitet forloret ; liv forloret, meget forloret ; sere forloret, alt forloret. ' Prov. Dan.,' 13.

Gut verlorn, unverdorben (unspoilt, no harm) ; Mut verlorn, half verdorben (spoilt) ; Ehr verlorn, gar verdorben (quite ruined, broken). Franck, ii. 119A ; Egenolff, 132A ; Petri, ii. 368 ; Gruter, ' Florilegium,' &c. (Frankfort, 1610), i. 46 ; Henisch, 58 ; Latendorff, ii. 15 ; Pister, iii. 70 ; Bamsann, I. ; Pred., iv. i. ; Biicking, 370 ; Korte, 2483 ; Venedeg, 151.

Eng. Take away my good name, and take away my life. Bonn, ii. 118.

French. Pluie d'argent peut guerir. Gaal, 'Proverb-Book in Six Tongues' (Vienna, 1830), 321

Dutch. Goed verloren, niet verloren ; moed verloren, veel verloren ; eer verloren, meer verloren ; ziel (? aim, object) verloren, al ver- loren. Harrebomee, i. 247.

Lat. Amissis rebus, nemo sapiens. Henisch, 52.

Bona opinio tutior est pecunia. Egenolff, 132A.

Omnia si perdas, famam servare memento,

Qua semel amissa, postea nullus eris.

Seybold, 411.

Hungarian.

Inkabb veszszen el eleted, mintsem betsiileted.

Gaal, 321.

Gut, Vernufft, dapffer Herz und weiser Bath hohe Sachen ausrichten und grosse That.

Gruter, iii. 46.

This may be anglicized

Money, reason (common sense), brave heart (pluck), and judgment (counsel, advice), achieve high aims and great deeds.

Abbreviations of sources not explained above may be found in Wander's first volume. A. FORBES SIEVEKING.