Yemeni proverbs for all occasions [Archives:2002/18/Culture]

BY SAAD SHAREEF
YEMEN TIMES STAFF



Ibn mehreh wela mitaalim senneh
Meaning: A well-experienced man is better than one who studies for a year.
Comment: Practice is better than theories.
Situation: When showing importance of experience.

In jeet liljazzar aadhem lek il kheber
Meaning: If you come to a butcher, he will magnify the news.
Comment: Butchers are talkative and exaggerating. A butcher may praise the meat as if it were gazelles while it is bad.
Situation: When people exaggerate the reality.

Il baziyah gheir il um keththabeh
Meaning: A wet-nurse who feds the baby at the breast, or looks after it other than the mother, is a liar.
Comment: No one equals the mother in compassion. Even a nurse who sucklse the baby or a relative who brings it up cannot give it compassion like its mother.
Situation: When showing mothers care.

Akhir il mihhenish lil henesh
Meaning: A person who recites the Holy Quran to send a snake away from the house will finally be bitten by it.
Comment: some people try to help others, but pay for it. e.g. a man throws himself in the ea to have a drowning person but drowns at last.
Situation: When one is hurt as a result of offering help. Or people who cheat others will finally pay for it.

Ya mkharij il akhjef la weddef
Meaning: Who would save a fool in an embarrassing position?
Comment: Stupid people always put themselves in critical positions. So anyone who tries to help them will face difficulties. Therefore, people try to avoid them.
Situation: When condoling those who suffer from hard results because of helping foolish people.

Il aafyeh tishti alef
Meaning: Health, like animals, needs food.
Comment: To keep healthy, you have to vary your food and eat well, because health demands elements to keep it going well.
Situation: When advising sick people or kids who do not take a balanced diet.

Itha agredht il jeed ma yitaboksh wekt il gedha.
Meaning: If you lend money to good people, they wont disappoint you in paying it back.
Comment: Wise people highly appreciate those who help time in time of need. They feel grateful for them. e.g. when they borrow money , they will pa it back in time.
Situation: When praising good borrowers.

Alriajal mekhabir mush menadhir
Meaning: You should judge men according to their attitudes not by their appearance.
Comment: Appearances are often deceptive. So we have to judge men by their deeds and not by their speech. Some people try to show goodness and smile but in fact they are not so. Sometimes while faces hide black hearts and vice versa.
Situation: When evaluating men.

Ikl ma yaajubuk wilbas ma yaajub ilnas
Meaning: Eat whatever you prefer but wear what other people prefer.
Comment: At home do eat whatsoever you like because no one observes you, but as for dress you should follow what other people like you to wear.
Situation: Advising to follow traditions.

Hebeebek il awal l yighorruk il thani
Meaning: The first you loved, the best. Dont be cheated by another one.
Comment: When one falls in hove for the first time, that is the real love because he is still raw and natural. While the second love is different because now he is well-experienced in choosing good words or in clearing. Previously Arabs said: Try to love many times but surely you will go back to your first love.
Situation: Showing real love.

Dewwer didawiha zad amaha
Meaning: He wanted to cure a sick eye but unfortunately he made it blind.
Comment: Sometimes people try to help others but unfortunately they do the opposite unwillingly. e.g. one tries to mend a broken thing but destroys it completely.
Situation: When describing unlucky or inexperienced people.

Men rikin ala sebgh jartuh ekelha gefreh
Meaning: He who depends on his neighbors soup, eats his dry bread only.
Comment: Idle people who depend on others get nothing. Life needs struggling. Without work, life cant be conquered.
Situation: Blaming dependant people.

Bab yati minnuh reeh siddeh wistireeh
Meaning: If you want to be comfortable, shut the door through which winds blow.
Comment: When certain relation brings harm, stop such relation to be safe and comfortable.
Situation: advising others to prevent the way against troubles.

Sair il khadim wela taakkilah, wakkil il yehudi wela tsairah
Meaning: go with a servant but never eat with him. Feed a Jew but never go with him.
Comment: A servant is better than a Jew though a servant sometimes behaves foolishly and carelessly while a Jew is treacherous. Here, keep a servant as a companion without eating with him because he might eat much and cant work or he may press the red line. Meanwhile a Jew may betray you. So dont trust him. Feed him (if he is hungry) as he is a human being but never accompany him.
Situation: baring Jewish behaviors.

Kherej min misnaf wdekhel mittlah
Meaning: He passed on heavy thorns, but entered thick big grove.
Comment: As unlucky man nay go from bad to worse. E.g. he struggles to pass over heavy thorns but he faces a thick big grove which he cant pass however hard he tries. The English equivalent to this proverb is To fall out of the frying pan into the fire.
Situation: When describing unfortunate people who go from bad to worse.

Ildehr kulluh amara meta ykoon il sikooni
Meaning: Time always demands working, when will there be rest ?
Comment: When a poor man works hard all his life, he thinks that there is not second to rest.
Situation: When tired workers complain of hard work.

Wld il weil la ligeiteh mihtem, hu bmuhet gheireh
Meaning: If you see a troublesome boy busy (while feeding a horse) it is sure that the horse is not his.
Comment: troublesome boys do not help their parents when they ask them to do so or never offer help.



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