Note 6 — LECTURE I. THE FORM AND DEFINITION OF A PROVERB.

When Erasmus, after discussing and rejecting the definitions of those who had gone before him, himself defines the proverb thus, Celebre dictum, scitâ quâpiam novitate insigne, it appears to me that he has not escaped the fault which he has blamed in others—that, namely, of confounding the accidental adjuncts of a good proverb with the necessary conditions of every proverb. In rigour the whole second clause of the definition should be dismissed, and Celebre dictum alone remain. Better Eifelein (Sprichwörter des Deutschen Volkes, Friburg, 1840, p. x.): Das Sprichwort ist ein mit öffentlichem Gepräge ausgemünzter Saz, der seinen Curs und anerkannten Werth unter dem Volke hat.