First of all, I’d like to preface that I don’t speak Hungarian. However, while reading an article in English, a Hungarian proverb about red hair was mentioned, so, I translated it into Hungarian with an automatic translator and copied/pasted it on a search engine. In this way (and always with the help of the automatic translator), I was able to find more proverbs on the same subject. As you will see, they are similar to others we already know, but in this case the fact is quite surprising, because, according to linguists, the Finno-Ugric languages (to which Hungarian belongs) are not Indo-European languages (although the matter is still disputed by some). On the contrary, all the other proverbs we have seen so far belong to Indo-European languages (Russian too is an IE language).
Interestingly, a Finno-Ugric language is also spoken in Udmurtia, where the reddest redheads of all are said to live.
- Vörös hajú tót
Red-haired Slovak (This proverb was used to refer to someone deceiving. The term “tot” was used by Hungarians for Slovaks and western Slavs who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary)
- Akinek szőre, bőre veres, abban jó lelket ne keress!
Do not look for a good soul in those who have red hair and red skin (I’m not sure what “red skin” refers to. Maybe ruddy skin?)
- Vörös kutya, vörös ló, vörös ember egy se jó
Red-haired dog, red-haired horse, red-haired man: none of them is good
- Vörös ember ha jó, igen jó
When the red-haired man is good, he’s very good (Which means that red-haired people are either completely evil or completely good)
- Vörös hajúban, vörös bajszúban ritkán szokott jó válni
Seldom anything good comes from someone with red hair and a red moustache
Tons of Italian proverbs about red hair (in dialect too!)
Russian proverbs about redheads and a decree from Peter the Great
More ancient proverbs about red hair
European proverbs about red hair
Galician proverbs about red hair