Proverbi salentini

Proverbs and idiomatic expressions in the Greek of Southern Italy

compiled by lucia Gal

A basket of grapes...
A basket of grapes...	A contented heart, God...	A fasting donkey doesn’t...	A found thing is...
A fruitful January brings...	A full belly looks...	A good day is...	A good May makes...
A good mill grinds...	A good thing is...	A good wife has...	A hand that does...
A hidden illness cannot...	A hungry dog is...	A liar is not...	A liar is not...
A little gall makes...	A little gall makes...	A magpie can feed...	A mouth that laughs,...
A rotten apple spoils...	A scalded dog fears...	A thin horse doesn’t...	All bark and no...
All bark, no bite....	All knots come to...	An empty sack doesn’t...	An empty vessel sounds...
Appetite comes with eating....	April fog takes away...	April rain fattens the...	April rain fattens the...
As is the bird,...	As is the fig...	As is the goat,...	As is the mountain,...
As long as there...	As long as there...	As long as you...	As many heads, as...
At the kneading trough...	At the kneading trough,...	August sends letters telling...	Better a puny husband...
Better late than never....	Better one day as...	Better the egg today...	Better to live one...
Blessed are those fathers-in-law...	Both the weak and...	Candlemas, Candlemas, give me...	Children and vines must...
Christ (God) does not...	Clear Christmas, wet Easter,...	Coal either stains or...	Cold of hand, warm...
Cooked and eaten....	Crooked wood is straightened...	Crying follows crying....	Dark soil produces good...
Daughter-in-law and mother-in-law: an...	Do good and do...	Do no wrong, have...	Do not act like...
Do not wake the...	Don’t mention a rope...	Double moon, hail or...	Draft leads you to...
Drop the bone, it’s...	Dry Christmas, wet Easter,...	Eating removes troubles....	Either a rich sailor...
Empty vessels make the...	Every broom raises dirt....	Every flour contains bran....	Every key has its...
Every key has its...	Every knot comes to...	Every little grain makes...	Every miller draws water...
Every spit enlarges the...	Every stone raises the...	Every vine shoot needs...	Every vine shoot wants...
Every wood has its...	Everyone goes....	Everyone waters his own...	Everything has its right...
Everything needs measure....	Fall, early fig, for...	Fame becomes great as...	Far from the eyes,...
Fennel for the mother...	Fig-wood fire burns and...	Find a friend and...	Fish cooked, meat raw....
Fish stinks after three...	From Herod to Pilate....	From Saint Lucy’s Day...	From the stars to...
From women and from...	From women and from...	From women and from...	Get married, and if...
Get married, get married...	Goats always go toward...	God is for everyone....	God makes them and...
God sees and provides....	God welcomes everyone....	God’s mills grind slowly....	Good finds good....
Good is enough for...	Grease the axle and...	Greenish moon, it will...	Hair pulls more than...
He goes around finding...	He into whom love...	He who buys for...	He who does good...
He who does good...	He who does it,...	He who does not...	He who does not...
He who does not...	He who gives, sells...	He who goes slowly...	He who goes to...
He who goes with...	He who had fire...	He who has a...	He who has been...
He who has fathered...	He who has gold...	He who has more,...	He who has no...
He who has only...	He who has said...	He who has said...	He who has, eats....
He who is to...	He who is well...	He who is well...	He who is without...
He who knows more,...	He who knows you...	He who loves more,...	He who makes himself...
He who measures oil...	He who often trusts,...	He who pays in...	He who plants the...
He who plays, wins....	He who ploughs with...	He who raises a...	He who raises loves....
He who sells dearly,...	He who shows his...	He who sleeps does...	He who sleeps does...
He who steals will...	He who takes a...	He who takes other...	He who ties well...
He who wants too...	He who weaves at...	He who works has...	Hoe the land if...
If all bees made...	If it is not...	If the rings fall...	If the sick man...
If you are a...	If you become a...	If you do not...	If you don’t stumble,...
If you have money,...	If you look into...	If you play with...	If you wait with...
If you want to...	If you want to...	If your relative roasts...	In a narrow bed,...
In an old house,...	In illness one comes...	In Lent, if you...	In one ear and...
In vases the carnations...	It is not possible...	It leaves crooked, it...	It thunders until it...
It’s better to bend...	Jealousy is equal to...	Join someone better than...	Knowledge makes us human....
Like father, like son....	Little bread, few ‘Our...	Little by little the...	Love is like ivy....
Love is not bought...	Love the one who...	Make do with what...	Make yourself a reputation...
Manure is the cheese...	Many grains make a...	March fog does no...	March: shoes under the...
Marco captures the Turk,...	May God protect you...	May God spare you...	May: reap and make...
Measure three times and...	Measure yourself and tell...	Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law should...	Neither can the sun...
Neither woman without a...	No rose without a...	No-one is born a...	Not all days are...
Not all fingers are...	Not every truth needs...	Old ox, straight furrow....	On Friday and on...
On top of ringworm,...	Once one starts to...	Once the house is...	Once the sixth (hour)...
One basket of grapes...	One hand washes the...	One moment lifts you...	One person’s pain is...
One spins, and the...	One thing I tell...	One thing I tell...	Other people’s bread smells...
Other people’s bread smells...	Out of my yard,...	Plant the new cabbages,...	Poor is the one...
Poor is the one...	Poor me, I must...	Poverty teaches all trades....	Praying and giving are...
Rainbow in the morning,...	Rare things are the...	Red (skies) in the...	River grass: little cheese...
Save flour when the...	Seek and you will...	Sense sustains you; bread...	Shared pain is half...
She who is born...	She who is born...	Small bird, small nest....	Some eat fish and...
Some want it cooked...	Sometimes very much, sometimes...	Sow when you like,...	Sparse grain brings no...
Spit at the sky...	Steadiness carves marble....	Straw fire goes out...	Strike the dog that...
Strike the iron while...	Strike the iron while...	The big fish eats...	The cat goes to...
The cicada sings as...	The cradle child is...	The devil has no...	The dog recognizes the...
The donkey carries the...	The father’s trade is...	The first water is...	The fish stinks from...
The fox runs to...	The full man does...	The good thing is...	The good wife neither...
The grain must go...	The graves are full....	The hand that gives...	The healthy person does...
The hen lays the...	The hen lays the...	The husband with the...	The lower it hangs,...
The more one reads,...	The more you live,...	The most foolish monk...	The mother of fools...
The mother understands the...	The mouse does not...	The neighbour’s grass is...	The one who has...
The rooster crows, the...	The sun warms everyone....	The sun warms what...	The time will come...
The tongue has no...	The tongue is the...	The tongue strikes where...	The troubles of the...
The woman deceived the...	The year makes the...	There are more dogs...	There are more traps...
There is more time...	There is no remedy...	Three things make the...	Three women make a...
To a fox, a...	To extreme troubles, extreme...	To make a hole...	To settle the accounts...
To some, much; to...	To throw the stone...	Too much clogs....	Tooth gone, pain gone....
Truth hurts....	Unripe grapes make vinegar....	Until Christmas there is...	Very much is like...
Wait, horse, until the...	Water and frost do...	Water congeals the blood;...	Weddings are not celebrated...
What happens in one...	What one has by...	What the eye does...	When it rains while...
When it thunders, expect...	When the bishop is...	When the cat's away,...	When the devil caresses...
When the devil is...	When the fox cannot...	When the hen pees....	When the pear is...
When the snow melts,...	When you have nothing...	When you hear the...	When you see abundance,...
Where the hen sings,...	Where there are children...	Who walks slowly goes...	Who walks slowly, goes...
Who wants, goes; who...	Whoever gives me food,...	Wind, woman, and fortune...	With nothing, nothing was...
With oil and salt,...	Woe to the sick...	Wolves walk at night....	You are worth as...
You cannot always win....	You cannot expect company...	You cannot have the...	You don’t joke with...
You must cook with...	You must have it;...	You name the devil...	You reap what you...
You see the face...	Your death, my salvation....	“Mum, Ciccio is touching...