| dc.description.abstract | The selected proverbs point to the fact that eating is something obvious and natural,
a repeated activity that aims at sating one’s appetite. Eating as a sign of life in proverbs has
been contrasted with death. It is also a reward, payment for one’s work. However, some
exceptions to this rule could be distinguished, including situations when: 1. one man works
while another eats, i.e. “consumes” the fruit of the work of the former; 2. one eats but does not
work, i.e. is a lazy person; 3. one works but does not eat, i.e. does not receive payment for his
or her work, or the payment is unsatisfactory. Among the elements that build the linguistic
picture of eating are the relations between eating and working: 1. work dominates eating, i.e.
eating does not counterbalance the effort put in working, payment for work is insufficient
(the point of view here is of a farmhand or a peasant); 2. eating dominates work, i.e. one
eats more than one has worked for (one looses all the possessions, or falls into poverty);
3. balance is maintained between working and eating, i.e. one “eats up” everything that he or
she has worked for. The linguistic picture of eating and working has been formed not only
on the basis of life experience of many generations that reflects social hierarchy: gentry,
peasantry (many proverbs present the viewpoint of a villager, a folklore bearer), but also
under the influence of the Bible. This is because work is identified with a virtue, its aim is the
maintenance and development of life, while not working (laziness) is a sin. | en_EN |
