More French proverbs about redheads + a new entry

As you will see, come of these proverbs are either translations or alternate versions of proverbs we already know. Most of them are about the notorious red-bearded/black-haired man, who must have been really unpopular. 😁 

Let's start with our new entry, Portugal.

- Se o grande fosse valente, o pequeno paciente e o ruivo leal, todo o mundo seria igual (If the big one were brave, the small one patient and the red one loyal, everyone would be equal/the same) 

-  Homem ruivo e mulher barbuda, saúdam-se de longe (Red-haired man and bearded woman greet each other from afar)

Source

 

 

- A force de tourner son brandon, on roussit sa chevelure (By constantly turning his brand, he singes his hair) 

- Barbe rousse, noir de chevelure, est resputée faulx par nature [old spelling] (Red beard, black hair, is reputed to be false by nature)

 

 - Barbe rousse, chien à queue courte, garde-toi (Red beard, short-tailed dog, beware of them)

- De barbe rousse et queue courte, garde-toi (Beware of a red beard and of a short tail)

 

- D'un homme à poil rouge et d'un bigot, sauve qui peut (From a red-haired man and a bigot, save yourself)

 

-  De l'homme à cheveux rouges et du chien à queue courte, sauve qui peut (From the red-haired man and the short-tailed dog, save yourself)

- Du poil rouge et du cagot, sauve qui peut (From the redhead and the pharisee, save who can)

- Nez court fainéant, poil rouge méchant (Lazy short nose, nasty red hair)

- Barbe rouge et cheveux noirs, qui le tuerait ne ferait que son devoir (Red beard and black hair, whoever would kill him would only be doing his duty)

- Tête noire et barbe rousse, mauvaise race (Black head and red beard, evil race)

- Barbe rousse et noirs cheveux, ne te fie si tu ne veux. (Red beard and black hair, don't trust him if you don't want to).

Source

 

Scottish proverbs about red hair

In spite of Scotland being one of the two countries (with Ireland) with the highest number of people with red hair, here too we find proverbs depictings redheads in an unflattering manner. As you will see, some of them are similar to others we already know, whcih makes me think that most of these proverbs come from a common substrate.

 

- A red beard, and a black head, catch him with a good trick, and take him dead.

 

- To a red man reade thy reade,
With a brown man break thy bread;
At a pale man draw thy knife,
From a black man keep thy wife.

(Although here it's not clear whether the proverb is about hair colour or not) 

 

- Cocks with red combs are good traders. (A jest upon a man that has red hair)

 

- Bean ruadh, dhubh-shùileach,
Cù lachduinn, las-shùileach,
Fear an fhuilt dhuibh 's na fiasaige ruadh
Na tri còmhlaichean is mios air bith.
A red-haired, black-eyed woman,
A dun, fiery-eyed dog,
A black-haired, red-bearded man,
The three unluckiest to meet.

- Fear a’ chinn duibh ’s na fiasaige ruaidhe, na teirig eadar e ’s a’ chreag. 

Black head, red beard—don’t go between him and his rock. 

- Fear dubh dàna; fear bàn bleideil; fear dónn dualach; ’s fear ruadh sgeigeil. 

Black man bold; fair man officious; brown man curly; red man scornful.

- Is fhearr a bhi dubh na ’bhi bàn; Is fhearr a bhi bàn na ’bhi ruadh; Is fhearr a bhi ruadh na ’bhi carrach; Is fhearr a bhi carrach na ’bhi gun cheann. 

 It is better to be black than white; It is better to be white than red; It is better to be red than bald; It is better to be bald than headless.

 

- Is fhearr an dubh na ’n dónn; ’S fhearr an dónn na ’m bàn; ’S fhearr am bàn na ’n ruadh; ’S fhearr an ruadh na chàrr. 

Better black than brown, Better brown than fair, Better fair than red, Better red than scabby.

 

- An uair a bhios an sgadan mu thuath, bidh Murchadh ruadh mu dheas. 

When the herring is in the north, red Murdoch is in the south. (Red Murdoch is the restless, unlucky man, always out of the way when something good is to be got.)

  

- Fear a’chinn duibh ’s na fiasaige ruaidhe, co ’thuig riamh a nàdur? 

The man with the black head and the red beard, who has ever understood his nature?

Sources: Paroimiographia Proverbs, A complete collection of Scottish proverbs explained and made intelligible to the English reader, Gaelic Proverbs & Proverbial Sayings, Gaelic Proverbs.

A red-haired Jesus in a poem by Giosuè Carducci

On this blog we have seen how many paintings and frescoes show Jesus with red hair. And not only Jesus, but also the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, angels, archangels, and sometimes even John the Baptist and Saint Joseph.

Now, we have a poetic reference to Jesus’s alleged red hair.

The poem is by Giosuè Carducci (1835 – 1907), an Italian poet, writer, literary critic and teacher. He was born in Tuscany, near Lucca, and died in Bologna. In 1906, he became the first Italian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. 

Giosuè Carducci in 1900

 

Carducci was a popular lecturer and a fierce critic of literature and society. In his youth he was an atheist, whose political views were vehemently hostile to the Catholic Church. In the course of his life, his views on religion shifted towards a socially oriented theism and in 1895 he was reconciled to the Catholic Church.

His anti-clerical revolutionary vehemence was prominently showcased in one famous poem, the deliberately blasphemous and provocative Inno a Satana (Hymn to Satan). "Satan" / "Lucifer" was considered by Italian leftists of the time as a metaphor for the rebellious and freethinking spirit. While Inno a Satana had quite a revolutionary impact, Carducci's finest poetry came in later years. His collections Rime Nuove (New Rhymes) and Odi Barbare (Barbarian Odes) contain his greatest works.

He was a Freemason of the Grand Orient of Italy and his father, a physician, was also a member of the Italian Carboneria.

Even during his lifetime, several literary critics expressed negative opinions about his poetry, calling him more of a professor than a poet. Some modern-day literary critics call him a minor poet and nowadays he is little studied in Italian schools.

 

The poem we are going to see is the ode Alle fonti del Clitunno (To the Sources of the Clitumnus), which is part of the collection Odi Barbare.

The Clitumnus is a river in Umbria, which rises from a spring within a dozen metres of the ancient Via Flaminia near the town of Campello sul Clitunno, between Spoleto and Trevi. The spring was well described by Pliny the Younger, who records his visit toward the end of the first century AD. Virgil mentions the site too in Book II of his Georgics. It was visited by Caligula and by the emperor Honorius and even Byron celebrated the great beauty of the spot. The Temple of Clitumnus, later a church, lies on its bank.

Source of the Clitunno near Campello sul Clitunno

 

In this ode, the poet imagines an ancient world (which, obviously, never existed) made of serene country work, of simple family virtues, of friendly divinities linked to nature, of healthy heroism to defend one's land from enemies. But this world is finished, "all now is silent" and the clear river is "widowed".

Why? Because a “Galilean with red hair” took possession of Italy and replace with his faith the ancient one and, for Carducci, the core of this new faith is surrender and sacrifice. According to Carducci, Christian religion is against what people really desire, that is, a simple life of work, study and family love. However, as I said before, this idyllic pre-Christian world only lived in Carducci’s mind, because we know that, actually, it was quite the opposite.

I don’t know why Carducci decided to describe Jesus with red hair, but I’m pretty sure he was familiar with many of the paintings and frescoes where Jesus has this hair colour. Besides, he was a Freemason, so who knows… maybe he knew something we ignore.😉

 

I won’t quote the whole ode, because it’s very long, but you can read it here, both in Italian and in English. I will only quote three stanzas.

 

All now is silent, O Clitumnus widowed,

All. Of thy lovely temples one alone now

To thee remaineth, and a vested god there

Thou no more sittest.                                   108

 

No more besprinkled with thy sacred river

Lead they the white bulls, proud and patient victims.

Rich Roman trophies to the temples ancient :

Rome no more triumphs.                               112

 

Triumphs no more, since that a Gahlean

With red hair mounted to the Capitohum,

Threw in her arms one of his crosses, saying

— Bear it, and serve thou. —                         116