Many Russian proverbs and sayings have African equivalents that reflect the same folk wisdom. Yulia Suetina, Associate Professor of African Studies at Moscow State University ISAA, who studies the Hausa language, the largest language in West Africa, told socialbites.ca. As one example, the expert cited the famous proverb “Prepare the sled in the summer, the car in the winter” – it sounds African style, “The wise give water to the chicken even in the rainy season.” In Africa, instead of “Leave the goat in the garden”, they advise “Don’t let the hyena guard the meat” Or, for example, “No matter how twisted the rope is twisted, the end cannot be avoided” – Africans in a similar situation will say, “No matter how long the night lasts, the dawn will still come.”
“Proverbs and sayings have an important place in the culture, including the African peoples. After all, the situations in which a person finds himself anywhere throughout his life are similar. A proverb or idiom is the essence of human experience, only different nations put it in different words,” Suetina stressed.
The expert noted that the main factor affecting the stylistic difference between African and Russian proverbs is the natural features of the continents, the diversity of flora and fauna. However, their general meaning remains the same:
“Yes, we are surrounded by different realities. The phrase “Get the sled in the summer, the car in the winter” did not appear in Africa because in our understanding there is neither sledge nor winter. Also Africans “couldn’t let the goat into the garden” – there are goats there but the gardens are a bit nasty. Or the Russian peasant hardly knew what a hyena was. But still, people both there and there got into similar situations and drew similar conclusions. They will say “We are going to Tula with our samovar” and in a similar situation “Add horses to Borna”. This proverb, or rather its lexical expression, is connected with the fact that in Bornu, in northeast Nigeria, there is the largest horse market in West Africa. There are many examples like this.”
Russian and African proverbs have similarly survived to this day – for a long time they existed only in speech, were passed down from generation to generation, and only then were they put into writing. At the same time, it is almost impossible to trace exactly where certain words originated earlier – in Russia or in Africa.
“The starting point for all scientists, especially linguists, is the emergence of written evidence. Written evidence in Russia appeared quite late – in fact, proverbs and sayings were recorded in our country by Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl. Most African languages were written early, meaning their writings are relatively new. As for the proof of Hausa, we can say about the 30s of the last century, when a competition was held for the creation of modern literary works written in this language. And in these works, proverbs and idioms were widely used. Naturally, all this arose earlier – these are the ancient wisdoms of the people. No one in Africa in the 14th century wrote treatises on philosophy, but people drew conclusions from the environment, from everyday life – just like the Russians. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to track exactly where they originated before,” said Suetina.
In Russia, proverbs are still actively used in everyday speech. However, according to the expert, Africans use folk wisdom even more often in daily communication:
“In Africa, they believe it’s important not just to say something, but to say it well, so it’s enjoyable to listen to. Therefore, proverbs and sayings are used by them so often, for example, in media texts and even in headlines. They are also used, of course, in fiction. The same can be said for the local modern political vocabulary. For example, the hero of one of the earliest novels in Hausa tells the ruler: You are the flesh, you are the sword. So, you have the completeness of decisions. Now, in Africa, when they want to talk about the authority of the head of state, for example, they call him “a president with a knife and meat.”
At the same time, the mention of God, according to Suetina, is much less common in African proverbs than in Russian.
“God is mentioned in African proverbs. This is God, not the gods that the Hausans had previously worshiped. If you look for analogues, then instead of “Trust in God, but do not make mistakes yourself” there is such a saying – “God said:” Go, let me help you. But these are isolated cases, rarer than ours. At the same time, the fact that African proverbs with their ancient gods have not reached our time should not lead to the conclusion that such words did not exist at all. Probably, before the arrival of Christianity in Russia, we also had words with Perun, but we do not use them, since there are no written records, ”said Suetina.
Talking about the long-standing contacts between Russia and Africa, the expert emphasized that proverbs and idioms were probably not borrowed in his lectures. In addition, he said the Hausans were now kind to their culture and tried to avoid using British idioms:
“There is no such example. It didn’t make sense – why borrow proverbs and sayings when you can have your own? Now the Hausans – both simple and university graduate – pay close attention to their culture, they know it very well. If at the end of the 50s the students of the first colleges introduced English into their speech, now they see the ideal of a person who is extremely attentive to their traditions, culture.