Mekyea mo (I greet y'all),
Please use this thread to share the wise words of our honored Ancestors, aka Kmtyw proverbs. Wherever possible share the proverbs in the original language with the english translation. I will try to do the same though we may not always find the proverb in the original language. If only the english translation is known, please share it anyway.... as we continue our Kmtyw development someone will be able to provide the original wise words to make our knowledge complete.
Meda ase!
Akua
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Moloi ha a mela boya.
(An evil doer has no distinguishing mark.)
Sesotho proverb
Mmecha ede abughi okuko.
Literally: Preparing cocoyams for planting does not mean that they are already planted.
(Buying a lot of books does not mean that a person is educated.)
Igbo proverb
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Nwanyi umu iri o dighi ihe mere nabali o naghi ama.
Literally: When a woman has ten children, there is nothing that happens in the night that she does not know about.
Igbo proverb
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Idan dei a chini ba a seyer ba, kaza ta fi doki.
Meaning - If it is a matter of eating and not of selling, then the hen is better than a horse.
united snakesge or Explaination - Everything has its own peculiar uses.
Haunited snakes proverb
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Aboki barawo, barawo ne
Meaning - A friend to a thief is a thief.
united snakesge or Explaination - This is to say, that one can easily guess who you are and what you can do through the kind of friends you keep.
Haunited snakes proverb
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Isala kutshelwa sobona ngomopo
Meaning The wrong-headed fool who refuses counsel, will come to grief.
Zulu proverb
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Indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili
Meaning - A way forward is asked from those who are in front. If you don't the solution to a problem or need advice ask those who have been in such situations.
Zulu proverb
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A fool and water will go the way they are diverted.
Ethiopian proverb
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Turina keessatt killen millaan adeemti.
By persevering the egg walks on legs.
Omoro proverb
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Uwaingila mu mushintu, tomfwa nswanswa.
One who enters the forest does not listen to the breaking of the twigs in the brush.
Bemba (Zambia) Proverb
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Omoonto umwi nkirunguuri, ababere nitoonge rebukima
One person is thin porridge or gruel; two or three people are a lump (handful) of ugali (stiff cooked meal/flour from sorghum or millet).
Kuria (Tanzania and Kenya) Proverb
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Umwáansi aguciira icoobo, Imáana ikaguciira icaanzo.
When an enemy digs a grave for you, God gives you an emergency exit
Kirundi (Burundi)
Explanation:
Icaanzo, in Kirundi, is a kind of low and narrow opening made in the fence around the family house or urugo ("kraal"). This icaanzo is most often made in the back courtyard for two main uses: First, as a usual entrance for the women and children when they want to get in unnoticed especially during public functions; second, as a secret emergency exit in case of danger coming from the main and public entrance called iréembo.
Considered in this second use, the icaanzo is a symbol of safety and security in case of danger threatening one's life. That is why it is opposed to the icoobo ("grave"), symbol of a certain death. The proverb insists on the fact that the icoobo ("grave") is made by your enemy umwáansi, while the icaanzo ("emergency exit") by which you escape is made for you by God Imáana.
.
If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation).
Probably a [[Fanti]] ( Ghana )
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Getutu kere maiso.
The bush in which you hide has eyes.
Gusii ( Kenya )
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Rigita thi wega; ndwaheiruio ni aciari; ni ngombo uhetwo ni ciana ciaku.
You must treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It is loaned to you by your children.
Kikuyu
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Sade a bha gbe eban, eban di khien Edin.
(Provided no person stunts or destroys a sprouting palm kernel seedling, it will definitely grow into a palm tree.)
Esan (Nigeria) Proverb
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Makiume sasurwet ak kebet.
You cannot use a wild banana leaf to shield yourself from the rains and then tear it to pieces later when the rains come to an end.
Nandi (Kenya) Proverb
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Isihlahla saziwa ngezithelo zaso.
A tree is known by its fruit.
Zulu (South Kmt, Swaziland) Proverb
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Kîrîma kî mîtî nî guoko kwa Ngai (kîara kîa Ngai).
A hill with trees is the hand or finger of God.
Gikuyu (Kenya) Proverb
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Abayita ababiri bajjukanya
Those who walk together warn each other.
Ganda proverb
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Akoma-zakoma, pusi adagwa (anagwa) chagada (cagada).
Greed led the monkey to fall on its back.
or
A child or youth who does not listen to an elder's advice gets his or her leg broken.
Nyanja, Chewa
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Ca ygwa opi ro ongona tiza ondro kandra kozi ka'do te owo'.
The chief's son has to collect firewood when destiny destroys him.
Moru proverb
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Takipar bich che meloljinge ma. Tugen
How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves.
Tugen (Kenya) proverb.
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Faa yalo dzwaa gbe.
The one who fetches the water is the one who is likely to break the pot.
Ga proverb
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Munyal deefan hayre. Fulfudle
Patience can cook a stone.
Fulfudle (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Kmtyw Republic, Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, and Togo) proverb
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Wang' mithiedho ema gawi.
An eye that you treat is the one that turns against you.
Luo (Kenya, Tanzania)
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Utamirhe ya mokorho, urhagenda bwirhe.
If you refuse the elder's advice you will walk the whole day.
Ngoreme (Tanzania) Proverb
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Pein dan kan jo ya, di voorika an tua
If an arrow has not entered deeply, then its removal is not hard.
Buli (Ghana )
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Bahana owo gulimu. Haya
A person who is not disciplined cannot be cautioned.
Haya proverb
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Ogi furu eze ke w'eye eze
It is the kola that befits a king that is offered to a king
Ika proverb
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Onu masi ni ndi ri ewo, ihian ile akwashi ukpo ogodo
English: If it is well with the mouths of those who ate frogs, then everyone will pack to the pond front.
Context of united snakesge: It serves some social function. If people appear to be making progress from an otherwise illicit business, then everyone is likely to be attracted to that business, however repulsive it might seem. Note here the combination of two agreeable images: ewo (frog/frogs) and ukpo ogodo (pond front) and how it enhances the pungency latent in the proverbial united snakesge.
Ika proverb
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Emphiempango ekukwatwa nilobho ihango. Kerewe
Big fish are caught with big fish hooks.
Kerewe proverb
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Mekyea mo (I greet y'all),
Slight change to what I initially said in the first post in this thread. We've decided to keep this thread strictly for those Kmtyw proverbs that we have the original language for (along with the english translation). For those Kmtyw proverbs that we only have english translations for we've created a special thread. Please share those proverbs here ---> http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/Kmtyw-ideological-philosophical-psychological-systems/45975-Kmtyw-proverbs-transition.html (http://www.abibitumikasa.com/forums/Kmtyw-ideological-philosophical-psychological-systems/45975-Kmtyw-proverbs-transition.html)
Meda ase (Thanks)!
Akua
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DI SAN DE KכMכT TU-TU
The sun comes out twice. If you do something bad to me today, tomorrow it will be my turn.
Kono proverb
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DI BכD WE DE NO εN DI BכD WE DE כNDASTAN, NכTO DI SEM
The bird that knows is different from the bird that understands. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Kono proverb
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