text
stringlengths 0
9.69k
|
|---|
More Lugbara Proverbs:
|
Don't sing while eating at the table, you may choke!
|
Don't sit in the road or else your mother will die!
|
Don't sit on the atuluku [fireplace] or else you will remain short (Sometimes, it may be hot and burn you)!
|
Don't wear the itisi [coiled cloth or other material on which a pot is put while being carried on the head] around your foot or hand. In other words, don't play with it so that it doesn't get spoilt or stuck on your hand!
|
He who has a hairy bottom should not jump over fire!
|
If you escort a visitor for a long distance from your home, then s/he may take long to re-visit you.
|
Ombadra wanted to go to war first before eating his meat, but died fighting.
|
The Heaviest Thing you can carry is a grudge.
|
The pot breaks at the door.
|
When you eat meat or drink milk, don't let them remain around your mouth so that they don't smell (Clean yourself)!
|
In the Book Lugbara Proverbs, Fr. A. T. Dalfovo collects some nine hundred (900) Proverbs of the Lugbara People of northwestern Uganda. Dalfovo collected 22 Proverbs having a personal Name as their Subject like Ajia, Badigo, Cuku, Guzu, Ngungu, Ombadra, Yangi, etc. Below are a few others I copied in the order I found them in his Book prefaced by John Middleton (Yale University):
|
The worth of a cattle-pen ensues from the cattle = The worth of a home is given by its people.
|
The verandah floor is clean because of people moving to and fro and sweeping it clean with their feet...
|
Man is the ediafe [pole] of the house...
|
Fear is the dress of women...
|
A girl should creep to be like the erindi grass (which spreads over the ground) = A woman should proliferate and spread by her many offsprings.
|
The kite does not take the orphan = No hope for sudden change in the condition of an orphan.
|
What is looked for in vain is a brother = Having a real brother guarantees the solution to any problem.
|
The shea butter nuts fall under the shea butter tree = A person naturally falls in with his relations.
|
Different maternal aunts is something bad = Because of the influence and esteem they enjoy, maternal aunts can be a potential source of division.
|
People come to know of things at the place of their maternal uncles...
|
The bellow of cattle is the cry of women...
|
The cattle-pen near the house means people...
|
The poor man sleeps alone in the house...
|
A single one looks with the eyes...
|
The colour of a visitor is shyness...
|
The grass on his grave grows tall = There is no relative to take care of foreigners.
|
There is no wall without supporting poles...
|
Beer does not ferment by itself...
|
The leader of the song does not sing...
|
The one who does not dig does not eat...
|
No hoe, no food...
|
The hoe does not dig by itself...
|
An elephant begets an elephant...
|
One does not support a person because of his beautiful hairs = Observation distinguishes between appearance and reality.
|
The big termitehill has nothing inside (No termites may be found inside an impressive termitehill)...
|
Beneath a potato heap, there is nothing (No potatoes may be found under a potato heap covered with flourishing leaves)...
|
You do not allow yourself to be eaten because of a he-goat = A male goat sometimes looks fierce and frightening but can be harmless.
|
It is the machete that is used on one side...
|
Millet chaff generates millet...
|
The old hoe is ever a friend...
|
The residue of beer can feed the chickens = One learns where true value lies.
|
Man eats from the soil and returns to the soil; death is blind; death knows no friend...
|
Co-wives are talkative, weaver-birds are not talkative...
|
The unsettled one is the gossipy trickster...
|
Push the tongue into your nose...
|
The cow that bellows much has no milk...
|
No handle, no food...
|
Meat burst an elder...
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.