Adage
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| A rolling stone gathers no moss --Sententiae by Publilius Syrus |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
An adage or adagium (Latin), is a short but memorable saying that holds some important fact of experience that is considered true by many people, or that has gained some credibility through its long memetic use. It often involves a planning failure such as "don't count your chickens before they hatch" or "don't burn bridges behind you."
Adages may be interesting observations, practical or ethical guidelines, or pessimistic comments on life. Some adages are products of folk wisdom which attempt to summarize some basic truth; these are generally known as proverbs. An adage which describes a general rule of conduct may be known as a "maxim". A pithy expression which has not necessarily gained credit through long use but which is distinguished by particular depth or good style is known as an aphorism, while one distinguished by wit or irony is known as an epigram.
Through overuse, an adage may become a cliché or truism, or be described as an "old saw." Adages coined in modernity are often given proper names and called "laws" in imitation of physical laws, or "principles". Some adages, such as Murphy's Law, are first formulated informally and given proper names later, while others, such as the Peter Principle, have proper names in their initial formulation; it might be argued that the latter sort does not represent "true" adages, but the two types are often difficult to distinguish.
Adages were collected and used by ancient writers and their work and writings inspired the Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus to produce a massive collection of Adagia in the early sixteenth century. There have been many such collections since, usually in vernacular languages.
See also
- Adagia
- List of adages named after people
- Apophthegmata, several collections of aphorisms (adages)
- Proverb
