From Essai de grammaire vêpse, compiled by K. J. Ujfalvy (1875)
These are forty-seven proverbs of the Veps — a Baltic-Finnic people of northwestern Russia whose language is a close cousin of Finnish and Estonian. The proverbs encode the rhythms and values of Veps rural life: fishing on the rivers, weaving at the loom, enduring the long winters, managing dogs, fearing fools, reading the weather. Some are universal — "a rolling stone gathers no moss," "a barking dog catches no hare" — while others are unmistakably Veps: the bitter turnip, the east wind that blows until rain, the perch who seizes the hook when she pleases. There are prayers to God for golden days and enough to share with the village. There is the hard observation that fools spring up unsown. And there is the final word: man does not drive time; time drives man.
The proverbs were drawn from fieldwork data collected among the Veps of the Oyat and Sholtjärv districts by August Ahlqvist and Elias Lönnrot, and published by the Hungarian linguist Károly Jenő Ujfalvy (Charles-Eugène de Ujfalvy) in his Essai de grammaire vêpse ou Tchoude du Nord (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1875). No English translation of these proverbs has previously been published.
Translated from the Veps original via Ujfalvy's French intermediary. The Veps language belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic family; Finnish and Estonian serve as structural bridges for the translation.
1. Morning is wiser than evening.
2. Time changes, and man changes with time.
3. Time calms the sea; time fills the boat with water.
4. Even the tsar does not eat gold.
5. The fish is always in the water, but not always in the net.
6. The new is always more pleasing, even when the old is better.
7. The old woman drinks wine as rotten wood drinks water.
8. A woman turns back from the road; even a bad man does not.
9. God grant that times may pass, that golden days may flow.
10. May God always give enough to eat, enough to drink, and enough to share with the village.
11. Give power to the wicked, but keep more for yourself.
12. The good man gives from what little he has; the wicked gives nothing, even from plenty.
13. With haste one cannot go far.
14. There is not much help from a child: he gets one fish and eats two.
15. It is warmer under the wind than under a sister's love.
16. The fortunate man grows wise from another's misfortune.
17. Work is as you make it; the law is as you read it.
18. The dog does no harm if you do not strike him on the head with a stick.
19. Not all who wear trousers are men.
20. He who stays behind is not abandoned; he who falls is not overthrown.
21. In the evening tears, in the morning laughter.
22. The bitter turnip does not always rot first.
23. A ladle is no good without a handle.
24. There is no church where a priest cannot find a place.
25. A dog cannot learn to swim without wetting his tail.
26. No one is born with an axe in his hand.
27. There is no village without dogs, no country without people.
28. The roaring torrent never freezes; a rolling stone gathers no moss.
29. The sea is not fouled because dogs drink at the shore.
30. Cold coals give no fire.
31. The cuckoo does not sing when commanded; the cock does not crow when you wish.
32. A man lives not by his name, but by his work.
33. God always helps; He breaks all weather suddenly.
34. The sun does not always shine from one side.
35. A barking dog catches no hare.
36. The east wind does not stop blowing until it rains; the wife does not stop quarrelling until she weeps.
37. Fools are neither ploughed nor sown; they spring up of themselves.
38. You cannot escape misery by weeping, nor unhappy days by lamenting.
39. Two kings have no room in one castle.
40. He is not rich who gathers the harvest; he is rich who puts it to use.
41. The perch has the power to seize the hook whenever she wishes.
42. Better to look into the mouth of one who laughs than one who weeps.
43. One worry at the beam, two at the thread.
44. There are more trousers than men.
45. Smoke does not strike the eyes.
46. One sin for the one who takes; a hundred sins for the one who tells.
47. Man does not drive time; time drives man.
Colophon
These forty-seven proverbs were collected from fieldwork data gathered among the Veps people of the Oyat and Sholtjärv districts of northwestern Russia by August Ahlqvist and Elias Lönnrot, and published by Károly Jenő Ujfalvy in his Essai de grammaire vêpse ou Tchoude du Nord (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1875), pp. 52–55. The Veps text was presented in bilingual format with French translation.
The English is translated from the Veps original using Ujfalvy's French as an interpretive bridge and Finnish/Estonian cognates as structural reference. No English translation of these proverbs has previously been published.
Good Works Translation by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Translated from the Veps of the Oyat dialect, as recorded by Ahlqvist and Lönnrot and published by Ujfalvy (1875).
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Source Text: Veps Original
Veps text from Ujfalvy, Essai de grammaire vêpse ou Tchoude du Nord (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1875), pp. 52–55. Section heading: "Proverbes tchoudes ou vêpses." The Veps orthography reflects Ujfalvy's transcription conventions; diacritical marks (â, ô, û, etc.) indicate vowel quality. OCR artifacts from the digitized source have been cleaned where identifiable; some corruption may remain, particularly in diacritical marks.
1. Homendes mudreniemb ehtat.
2. Aig vajehtelesei rist'it vajehteiese aigal.
3. Aig toob t'ûnen meren, aig vootjan venhen.
4. Ei i tsar kuldat so.
5. Ùhtâi kala vedès, ei ûhtâi lasjames.
6. Ùhtâi nus ts'omemb, ensne hot paremb.
7. Ak vanh vinan joob, labo pu veden vedab.
8. Ak dorogas-pai tagaisi pôôrdlese mus'jik hot huba ei pôôrdelfe.
9. Anda Jumal aigad mànta, pâivad kuldaised kuluda.
10. Anda ûhtâi Jumal kûllal soda, kallal joda, kallal antta kûlaha.
11. Anda valdat pahale, enamb ota itseleis.
12. Hûvâ andab vâhàises, paha i âijâs ei anda.
13. Ei kiirhul etâhaks mânta.
14. Lapses om ai lis'at: kalan saab, kaks sôôb.
15. Làmbemb' tuuliaisen al, mi sisaren armastusen al.
16. Os'al rist'it toisen n'ets'astjas mudreniaks tegehe.
17. Raat muga linob, kut t'ehtas, sakonad liintâs, kut lugetas.
18. Lajint ranat ei tege, kun puul pâha ei is'ktu.
19. Ei kaik m'ehed, kudamod kaadjit kandistas.
20. Jânut ei mita jâtta, langenut ei mita sortta.
21. Ehtal itkent, homisol nagrant.
22. Ei karged nagris eismiseks hapne.
23. Kauhaine vardeta ei ladt'e.
24. Ei muga pagast, mi jo pap ei miilu.
25. Ei koir ujumaha opete bandât ligotamata.
26. Ei ni ken rodt'e kirves kâdes.
27. D'erevn'at ei le koiratomat, maat ei le m'elietomat.
28. Kohub kos'k ei jâdù, liikub kivi ei sammaldu.
29. Ei sil meri pagan, mi koirad randas lakkitihe.
30. Wilus hiles làmbùit ei sada.
31. G'âgi ei kâsktes kukku, kukoi ei kutstes laula.
32. M'es nimel ei elâ, a radol.
33. Ûhtài Jumal abutab, kaikuitsen aigan katkaidab.
34. Ei pàivâne ûhtài ûhtes ts'uraspai pas'ta.
35. Nutaj koir jànist ei sa.
36. Pâivan-nousem ei heita tuulendat, kuni ei vihmu, ak ei heita lajindat, kuni ei itke.
37. M'eletomit ei kûndkoi, ei sementkoi, itse rodisei.
38. Itkul ei pààstâ b'edas-pai, vongundal ei pahois pâivis-pài.
39. Ei kaht tsarit ûhthe lidnaha mtilukoi.
40. Ei bohat, kudam elon saab, se bohat, kudam vardeitsob.
41. Ahnel itsese valt onghe tartta, kun tahtob.
42. Paremb' katsta nagrajan suhu, miitkejân.
43. Ei ûks gor'a, ku birdas, gor'at kaks niites.
44. Ei severs m'ehit, kuvers kadjit.
45. Savu silmit ei ts'apa.
46. Otjale ûks gr'àh, sanojale sada gr'âhat.
47. Ei m'es m'est ajele, aig m'ehen ajelob.
Source Colophon
Veps text from Ujfalvy, Károly Jenő (Charles-Eugène de Ujfalvy), Essai de grammaire vêpse ou Tchoude du Nord (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1875), pp. 52–55. Section: Proverbes tchoudes ou vêpses. Based on fieldwork data of A. Ahlqvist and E. Lönnrot among the Veps of the Oyat and Sholtjärv districts. The Veps language belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic language family; the Oyat dialect was spoken in the Oyat River district of what is now the Vologda and Leningrad Oblasts of northwestern Russia. Minor OCR artifacts from the digitized source have been silently corrected where identifiable; some corruption may remain, particularly in diacritical marks.
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