Nothing defines a culture as its language and its proverbs. A proverb is a short well-known expression that states a general truth or gives advice. Proverbs reflect the history and cultural life of the nation, its mentality. Why have we chosen this theme? Once our English teacher told us very interesting facts about origin of some English proverbs and we decided to get more information about this theme, to find out the differences and the common features between the English, and Russian proverbs, we also decided to compare these proverbs with the French ones. It was the main aim of our research. Besides, we wanted to enlarge our scope, to improve our foreign language

Some proverbs exist only in English or only in French. For example: «It’s raining cats and dogs», «A la guerre comme a la guerre». But they exist in Russian.. Many English and French proverbs have Latin origin. Some proverbs came to the language from the Bible. First, let us start with the English proverbs and sayings. Do you know that the two most common words in English proverbs are 'good' and 'never'. It was William Shakespeare who enriched the English language, he contributed more phrases and sayings to the English language.

«A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse» is one of Shakespeare's best known lines from the play Richard 3. The quotation is sometimes now repeated ironically. One can find the reflection of this quotation in Russian literature in Griboedov’s “Troubles from the wit” when Tchaski says,”Give me a cab, I need a cab!”

Shakespeare wrote a lot about love, one of the most famous quotations is “ Love is blind.” There is the same proverb in French: «L’amour est aveugle». Modern-day research show the blindness of love is real. A research study by University College London found that feelings of love suppressed the activity of the areas of the brain that control critical thought. So the genius was right when he wrote his famous line. Shakespeare also used phrases and sayings from the Bible.

Maybe one of the most famous proverbs in all languages is “A wolf in sheep's clothing.” It means cruel person under the mask of kindness.

Forbidden fruit means a prohibited, but sweet article. In French there are 2 different proverbs with the same meaning, first: «Chose defendue, chose desiree» or «Pain derobe reveille l’appetit”. Forbidden fruit originates from the Garden of Eden Bible story. It means the fruit of the tree of knowledge. And what about proverbs of English origin and their history?

A rolling stone gathers no moss means that someone who doesn’t settle in one place rarely prospers. A rolling stone refers to a wanderer, unable to settle to any job or lifestyle and he is characterized as unreliable and unproductive. Quite a good name for a rock band. Nevertheless, this famous long-living group can be named 'Rolling Stone that gathers moss'.

Another interesting proverb of the English origin is “To be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth”. It means to be lucky born in a wealthy family. In the Middle Ages spoons were usually made of wood. It has been a tradition in many countries for wealthy godparents to give a silver spoon to their godchildren. Ann Richards modified the proverb about George Bush:"Poor George, he can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." In Germany they say, “To be born in the nightcap”. In Russia we say “To be born in a shirt”, it means “to be born lucky» or to be able to escape the danger. It does not have the same meaning as the English one.

When the British speak about the rainy weather they say, “It’s raining cats and dogs”, meaning that it’s raining very heavily. This is an interesting proverb, although there's no definitive origin. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. They also believe cats and dogs were washed from roofs during heavy weather, all pets lived under the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Some researchers don’t believe in this version. But we do. Another suggestion is that 'raining cats and dogs' comes from a version of the French word 'catadoupe', meaning waterfall.

We decided to find out if our classmates know English and Russian proverbs. The task was to translate English proverbs into Russian. We were surprised because our classmates couldn’t translate correctly such proverbs and sayings as “To carry coal to New Castle”, “ When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, “ A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” We should learn more Russian and foreign proverbs.

Our research was very interesting and informative, we got a lot of useful information about English, French and Russian proverbs and their origin. We improved our foreign language, besides we enlarged our scope. The research helped us to understand better the culture and the mentality of foreign languages, our own culture. If you want to make the acquaintance of a country and its people, learn its proverbs and sayings!

Pupils 9 th grade Gymnasium 1583 Mikhailova Polina Merenkova Diana Merenkova Viktoria