| Romanian | |
| Cine fura azi un ou, mâine va fura un bou! | |
| English | |
| Who is stealing today an egg, tomorrow will steal an ox (male of cow)! | |
| I guess it means that people should keep being honest and not give in to even the smallest temptations to take that which is not theirs. Because giving in to a small temptation can easily and rapidly lead to more and bigger temptations, thus a silly, seemingly innocent taking of a simple egg could turn that person, by forming a habit, into a real thief. | |
| cine = who | relative pronoun |
| a fura = to steal | verb |
| azi, astazi = today | time adverb |
| mâine = tomorrow | time adverb |
| ou = egg | noun |
| bou = ox | noun |
| un/o = a, an (masc./fem.) | indefinite article |
I think a better translation is: Who steals an egg today, will still an ox tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I am thinking about the meaning of the proverb. You like to look at women, coz they're beautiful, though they're not yours. So, comparing to the proverb above, it means you like to steal some sights (hehe, a bad translated saying from Indonesian :P) of women. Who knows what will you steal tomorrow from those women? It might be more than just some sights. Don't you think so? :D
:)))) noooo, don't twist the meaning of the proverb, which is quite literal, with your preferred variants of interpretation, no no :P haha. come on, am I really stealing something? God, I don't know, it's 1000 times harder than giving up alcohol, weed, cigarettes. huaaa. Actually, somehow, weirdly, alcohol was easier to give up than smoking. And weed was maybe even easier, well maybe coz I also had some bad and/or intense experiences.
DeleteAnd btw, I did steal, hmm.. but still I stopped lol.
So what do you think about the literal meaning of the proverb? :P
About the better translation. Actually I am trying as hard as possible, when possible lol, to keep the words order so that it is easier to see the correlation. But "steals" is better than "is stealing" I think. I am only writing English judging by my ears :P
DeleteSo hmm maybe: "Who steals today an egg, tomorrow will still an ox!"
Doesn't sound very good still, but isn't it better to see the correlation somehow?
* Also I made a typo, lol. (I only had one job :D) It should be "Cine fură" so "a" with reversed hat.