from J. A. Friis, Lappiske Sprogprøver (1856)

Twenty proverbs and thirty riddles in North Sámi, which Jens Andreas Friis printed in 1856 at the close of his book of Sámi tales, without saying where they were gathered. Each riddle is followed by its answer, as Friis gave it: a path, smoke, a comb, a seine net, a river, a person's heart.

Translation

Proverbs

Give to the dog, and hear bad words!

Better gristle in the hand than fat in the wilds.

Better a nick in the mouth than a gash in the head.

Better on the move than standing still.

That person has more schemes than sinews.

He who has long feathers flies high.

Wise enough on the shore, when harm befalls at sea.

In a raven's nest a swan's egg may also be found.

When the water is deep, the bottom is muddy.

A pleasant companion shortens the road.

A raven does not peck a raven's eyes.

A year is not a year's brother.

Shame no longer bites the cheek.

A squirrel's claw no longer bites into the forehead.

No day is so long that night does not come.

You must not make an eyeless bargain.

Ten wise men are no match in words for one foolish Sámi.

A known bad is better than a strange good.

Nine wise men cannot shut up one fool.

Not all brothers have sucked one mother's breasts.

Riddles, or Dark Sayings

Higher than all the mountains and lower than the heather? A path.

Always wandering, with a little burden on its back, but it never tires? A distaff.

Before the father is half made, the son is in the forest? Smoke.

By day in prison, by night set free? The toes.

It hews night and day, but never gets a chip? A clock, a reindeer's bell.

Open side up, empty; upside down, full? A cap.

Who is the wisest of all in the world? The steelyard.

It stands on its crown with its butt end up; or, crown below, butt above. A cow's tail.

A stone foot, sides of hemp twine and a wooden head? A seine net.

The dead drags the living out of the forest? A comb.

A maiden sits on the bank of a spring with a hood on her head (or, a loose head)? Angelica.

Lidless and bottomless, yet full of raw meat? A finger ring.

It goes by day, it goes by night, but it never finds the door? A clock.

What is it that, when it slips in through one hole, shows itself through three holes at once? A person who slips into a reindeer-skin coat.

What fits into a mouse's nest, yet cannot turn round in an ox's stall? A staff.

What is it that goes to the river to wash, and leaves its innards at home? A pillow.

What living thing is nearest of all to a person? The louse.

It travels through the forest and loses its tail in the forest? A needle.

It eats with its mouth and shits with its nape? A plane.

Four siblings peep into one hole? The bent poles of the hut.

You see it well enough, but you cannot catch hold of it? Smoke.

One looks down, and the water runs uphill? A horse, when it drinks.

A man chops kindling and the chips fall, yet it is not heard? Snow.

The front end like a keg, the middle like a barrel, and the hind end like a broom? A horse.

A hook upward, a hook downward, and a bend in the middle? The pot-hanger.

A cormorant flies across the sea; blood drips from its wings? A boat (when they row).

A black horse trots night and day, and its shafts never stir? The great river.

A husband a hundred years old, and his head one night old? A stump.

Small as an egg, but even so impossible to look to the bottom? A person's heart.

Only just thicker than the twine of a salmon net, but it never sees the sun? The heart of a tree.

Colophon

Translated from the North Sámi of Lappiske Sprogprøver: en Samling af lappiske Eventyr, Ordsprog og Gaader, edited by J. A. Friis (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 113–116: the twenty proverbs (sadnevajasak) and thirty riddles (arvadusak) that close the book's texts. Friis names no district for them. His two headings and his alphabetical order are kept, and each riddle's answer follows it as he printed it. On these pages Friis set a Norwegian rendering in a column beside the Sámi; the English was made from the Sámi, and that column was not consulted. The text was transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy; Friis's list of misprints has nothing for these pages, and the answer to the second riddle, printed dortc, is read as dorte. Words were checked in the Sámi–Norwegian glossary that Friis printed at the back of the same book, and in his larger Ordbog over det lappiske Sprog (1887), which quotes five of the proverbs under their headwords (bitta, jođe, suodna, rukkai, oarre-gaʒʒa); where one of those entries decided a reading, it is named here.

In the headings, dajherak is "or", used where one thing has two names, and sevdnjis sarnek are dark sayings. In the proverbs: čagar is the gristle and membrane of a reindeer's legs and joints, buojde fat, and mæcce the wild outlying land; bitta is both a morsel and a cut, and the 1887 dictionary files this proverb under the cut (Skaar), set against havve, a gash; jođe is "on the move" and orrot to stay or keep still (both senses from the 1887 entries jođe, which quotes this proverb, and orrot); juodna is a thought (the 1856 glossary) and a scheme (the 1887 entry suodna, which quotes this proverb and decides both "schemes" and the printed spelling suonak), and suodna a sinew; dolgge is a feather and allagassi "up on high"; galle is "well enough", visaj "wise", and ave the sea; garranas (1887 garanas) is a raven or crow, bæse a nest, and njufča a swan; rukkas is turbid, full of sediment (from the 1887 entry rukkai, which quotes this proverb); havske is pleasant and guojbme a companion; goarpa is the raven, and čuokko is read with the glossary's čuoggot, to peck or hack with something sharp; in the two proverbs that begin I šat, šat is "any longer", gaske "bites" (gäsket), niera the cheek, gallo the forehead, and baste "bites", as an edge bites; the 1887 dictionary explains the squirrel's claw as said of one who is beside himself with joy or grief. Čalmetæbme is blind and gavppe a bargain; nakkat is to have the strength for a thing; buođđot is to dam or stop up, as one stops a mouth; čiǯǯe is a breast, and njammam is read with the glossary's njâmmat, to suck. In the riddles: dagŋas is heather; dorte (1887 dortte) is glossed colus, the distaff, and in Norwegian Rok, Spinderok, which can also be a spinning wheel; it is given as the distaff, and noađaš is a little burden; audal go is read as the glossary's oudalgo, "before", and bælle-dagos, which has no entry of its own, as "half made", from bælle, half, and dakko, a work or making; giddagas is a prison; færrat is to hew with an axe and smakko a chip; dimo is an hour and a clock; gavvot is lying on the back, open side up, and gobmot turned upside down; a bismar is a steelyard; gierra is a treetop and madda the butt of a trunk, and el. is Friis's "or"; arpo is hemp twine and ærteg the flank between the first rib and the last; čokko is a comb; aja is a spring welling from the ground and lukka a hood, and luođko is read with the 1887 luotko and luodkos, a thing loose and coming apart; botka is angelica, an answer Friis prints with a small letter; lokke is a lid, njuoska biergo raw meat, and suormas a finger ring; čagŋat is to slip into, ittet to show oneself, and a bæska a reindeer-skin coat; čakkat is to find room, sapan a field mouse, and bossi is read as "into the nest", after an 1887 entry for a mouse's nest whose headword cannot be read in the copy used; vuovsa is an ox and bâsse a stall; a guödda is a pillow, and vissui is "home", into the house; bâjkat is the plain word, "shit"; oabaš are siblings and guovlat is to peep; bællje is an ear, and also each of the four thick bent timbers that frame a Sámi hut, so goatte-bælljek is at once the hut's ears and its bent poles, a play the English cannot keep; okta gæčča is read as "one looks", from gæččat; færkkot is to chop kindling; gagga is in the 1887 dictionary both a lever and a keg, and is read here as the keg; farpal is a barrel and suopal a broom; roakke is a hook, mokke a bend, and a skirtek the hanger that holds a pot over the fire; skarfa is a cormorant, vârâk blood, soagje a wing, and goaikkot to drip; njolgastet is to trot, aissa a shaft, and dædno a great river, also the name of the Tana; jakkasaš is "years old", ijabirrasaš is read from its parts as "a night old" (igja, night; birra, round), and a jalŋës is a stump still standing on its root; boadnje is a husband, and ijabirrasaš boares is taken together as "one night old"; vægjet is to be able; æjdo is "just", gâssag thick, and vajmos, a little heart, is here the pith of the tree.

No complete English translation of Friis's collection is known to us.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: Sadnevajasak ja arvadusak

North Sámi text as printed by Friis (1856), pp. 113–116, in his orthography; line-end hyphens that split a word are joined, and the hyphens of compounds are kept. Friis's headings and order are kept, and each proverb, and each riddle with its answer, stands as one paragraph, as in the English.

Sadnevajasak.

Adde bædnagi ja gula baha sanid!

Buöreb læ čagar gieđast, go buojde mæcest.

Buöreb læ bitta njalmest, go havve oajvest.

Buöreb læ jođe, go oro.

Dam olbmast læk æmbo juonak, go suonak.

Dat, gæst gukkek læk dolgek, allagassi girda.

Galle gaddest visaj, go avest vahag šadda.

Garranasa bæsest matta gavdnujuvvut majda njufča-monne.

Go čiegŋalis læ čacce, de læ rukkas bodne.

Havske guojbme oaned matke.

I goarpa goarpa čalmi čuokko.

I læk jakke jage viellja.

I šat hæppad niera gaske.

I šat oarre-gaʒʒa galloi baste.

I bæjve nu gukke, atte igja i boađe.

Ik galga čalmetës gavpe dakkat.

Loge visasa æi nakaš sani gujm ovta jalla Sabmelaǯain.

Oapes bahha læ buöreb, go âmâs buörre.

Ovče visasa æi buvte buođđot ovta jalla.

Æi læk buok vielljak ovta ædne čiǯid njammam.

Arvadusak dajherak sevdnjis sarnek.

Aleb go buok varek ja vuöllegeb go dagŋasak? Balgës.

Alo vagjol, ja ucca noađaš sælgest, mutto i vajba goassege? Dortc.

Audal go ačče læ bælle-dagos, de læ bardne vuovdest? Suovva.

Bæjve giddagasast, ikko luovos? Juölge-suormak.

Færra ija bæjve, mutto i oaǯo goassege smakko? Dimo, boccu bjællo.

Gavvot guoros, gobmot dievva? Gapper.

Gi læ buok visasamus majlmest? Bismar.

Gierrag ald čuoǯǯo ja madda bajas, el. gierra vuöllen, madda bagjen. Gussa-sæjbe.

Gæđge-juölge, arpo-ærtegak ja muorra-oajve? Nuötte.

Jabme gæssa ellid vuovdest? Čokko.

Jomfruva čokka aja gaddest ja lukka oajvest (el. luođko oajve)? botka.

Lokketæbme ja vuođotæbme, njuoska biergo dadde dievva? Suormas.

Manna bejvid, manna ijaid, mutto i goassege uvsa gavdna? Dimo.

Mi læ dat, mi, go ovta rajge čagŋa, golma rajge oktanaga itta? Olmuš, mi beski čagŋa.

Mi čakka sappan bossi, ige sate jorgalet vuovsa basist? Soabbe.

Mi dat læ, mi jokki manna bâsadet ja guođđa siskelusaid vissui? Guödda.

Mi læ ellid dat, mi læ olbmui buok lâgâmusta? Dikke.

Mæce čađa vagjol ja sæjbes mæccai lappa? Nallo.

Njalmin borra, niskin bâjka? Hæval.

Njællja oabaš guvlëk ovta roggai? Goatte-bælljek.

Oajnak galle, mutto gidda ik fatte? Suovva.

Okta gæčča vuölas ja čacce golga vuösta-luökkai? Hæsta, go jukka.

Olmaj færko ja smakkok gačadëk, ige gullu? Muotta.

Ouda-gæčče dego gagga, ja gasko dego farpal, ja maŋŋa-gæčče dego suopal? Hæsta.

Roakke bajas, roakke vuölas, ja mokke gasko? Skirtek.

Skarfa girda rasta ave, vârâk sojin gojkuk? Vânas (go sukkek).

Čappis hæsta njolgasta ija bæjve, æige ajsak goassege likkad? Dædno.

Čuöđejakkasaš boadnje ja oajve ijabirrasaš boares? Jalgŋës.

Ucce dego monne, mutto vægjemættos dadde bodnai gæččat? Olbmu vajbmo.

Æjdo luossa-fierme-arpo gaseb, mutto bæjve i oajne goassege? Muorra-vajmos.

Source Colophon

J. A. Friis (ed.), Lappiske Sprogprøver (Christiania: J. W. Cappelen, 1856), pp. 113–116; Friis's list of misprints has no corrections for these pages, and dortc (p. 114) is kept as printed. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the New York Public Library copy, digitized by Google (Internet Archive identifier lappiskesprogpr00friigoog); a former owner's handwritten marks in that copy are not part of the text. Friis's letters are kept as printed, including â, ö, ë, č, đ, š, ŋ, and both ʒ and ǯ, which he distinguishes. The Norwegian rendering that Friis printed beside the Sámi is not reproduced.

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