it is a wise child that knows his own father
谚语
英文释义
谚语
-
One can never be sure of one's paternity.
— [Launcelot Gobbo]. Do you not know me Father? [Old] Gob[bo]. Alacke ſir, I am ſand blinde, I know you not. Lan.^([sic]) Nay, in deede if you had your eyes you might faile of the knowing me: it is a wiſe Father that knowes his own child.
词源
The expression itself is ancient, attested in Homer’s Odyssey: “μήτηρ μέν τέ μέ φησι τοῦ ἔμμεναι, αὐτὰρ ἐγώ γε οὐκ οἶδ'· οὐ γάρ πώ τις ἑὸν γόνον αὐτὸς ἀνέγνω”.
A version, “it is a wise father that knows his own child” (spelling modernized), is used in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and the modern version, in a translation of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler (see quotations), which likely popularized the proverb.
A version, “it is a wise father that knows his own child” (spelling modernized), is used in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and the modern version, in a translation of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler (see quotations), which likely popularized the proverb.
5 次浏览
数据来源: Wiktionary