Note 55 — Little Dictionary of Creole Proverbs.

This is J. J. Thomas’ translation, as given in his “Theory and Practice of Creole Grammar.” Lhouvênaïe is a word which does not exist in our Louisiana patois. Does it come from the Spanish llover—“to rain”? or is it only a Creole form of the French hivernage? Carême, of course means Lent; whether the dry season in Trinidad is concomitant with the Lenten epoch, or whether the Creoles of the Island use the word to signify any season of scarcity, I am unable to decide.