Polish Sayings: Group 2

The theme for today's proverbs is Polish chleb, "bread."

Here are the proverbs:

Trzeba chleba i nieba.

Bread is needed, and heaven.

Notes: The idea is that of course you need bread, but bread by itself is not enough; you need spiritual sustenance also. Compare the Biblical saying, "Man does not live by bread alone," Nie samym chlebem człowiek żyje.

Trzeba nieba i chleba.

Heaven is needed, and bread.

Notes: In this reversed version, the idea is that heaven is all well and good, but people need bread too! You can't do without bread; even saints need to eat, at least sometimes.

Dał Pan Bóg zęby, da i chleb.

The Lord God gave teeth; he will give bread also.

Notes: The idea is that God gives what you need, and also the tools required to make use of it. Literally that's the teeth you need to eat the bread, and metaphorically whatever tool you need to take advantage of God's bounty. The word i is being used adverbially here, not as a conjunction: he will also give bread.

Daj Boże chleb, a ja zęby znajdę.

God, give bread, and I'll find teeth.

Notes: This is a sort of anti-proverb in response to the traditional proverb about God, bread, and teeth. The ja is emphatic; it's not needed with znajdę, which is already marked as first-person, but it adds to the meaning of the proverb: I will manage about the teeth; you, God, don't need to worry about that!

Dano chleba, gdy zęby mu wypadły.

He was given bread when his teeth had fallen out.

Notes: This is yet another bread-teeth saying, and this is one is about a tragic or ironic coincidence. Just when someone managed to get bread (impersonal dano: they gave...), at that moment his teeth fell out. Notice the use of dative for body parts, mu. In English we "own" our body parts, but in many Indo-European languages, including Polish, the dative is used instead.

Dobry chleb, gdy kołacza nie masz.

Bread is good when you don't have cake.

Notes: Notice the implied jest, is: Dobry chleb (jest). The verb is often omitted, especially in proverbs, where conciseness is highly prized. There are many proverbs which play on the difference between simple, humble bread, chleb, as opposed to the sophisticated luxury of cake, kołacz. (I live in Texas, where Czech koláče, "kolache," are very popular!)

Kto chleba nie chce, nie wart i kołacza.

Who doesn't want bread isn't worthy of cake either.

Notes: This proverb again plays on the tension between chleb and kołacz, the idea now being that only somehow who appreciates the value of humble bread can deserve the luxury of cake. Notice again the adverbial use of i: nie wart i kołacza, "he isn't worthy of cake either."

Kto ma chleb, ten ma wszystko.

He who has bread has everything.

Notes: This is another proverb in praise of bread's simple pleasures: who needs cake? Bread is everything, wszystko.

Bez mąki chleba nie upieczesz.

Without flour you can't bake bread.

Notes: This is literally true, and it then applies metaphorically to any situation where you are missing the essential ingredient for a project, something so vital that you cannot succeed without it.

Chleb daje rogi, a głód nogi.

Bread gives horns, and hunger gives legs.

Notes: Compare the rogi-nogi sayings in yesterday's post. This one is a variant on Chleb ma rogi, nędza nogi, substituting the word głód for the more general nędza. The idea once again is that having bread (i.e. material success) leads to overconfidence and aggressiveness, while not having bread (i.e. poverty) compels people to use their legs (i.e. their dynamic abilities) to seek out and find what they need.

And here is today's audio (I'm not a native speaker, so this is TTS-generated):



Plus a LOLcat: