Parola detta e sasso tirato non tornano indietro

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to trace the history of the proverb «a word spoken is an arrow let fly» (in Italian the comparison is made with the stone), trying to provide an illustrative example related to the survival of the gnomic-proverbial greek-latin tradition in modern languages, through its passage by medieval and renaissance Latinism. In Italy the equivalence of a word spoken is an arrow let fly is documented, almost with the same wording, from the fifth century BC, in a passage written by the tragic poet Euripides (1044, Kannicht), and in other Greek texts. You can also find the above mentioned proverb in ancient Latin literature; in particular, there are two passages written by Orazio that contributed, in a particular way, to the circulation of the proverbial idea analysed in medieval Latin and in modern languages. Since the 13th century, our proverbial idea is frequently documented in the vernacular language and literature, and the collections of proverbs and judgments of the Renaissance and the following ones also recall its different variants in an abundant way.