Today we’re going to look at a few cognate duos that are all words for types of sayings that teach a lesson or relate fundamental truths.
The first pairing.
adage — a traditional saying that expresses a common experience or observation
adagio — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning (The word “adagio” exists in English, too, but it refers to the way a musical piece is played slowly or the way a pair of dancers does some technical moves and has nothing to do with a “saying.”)
My favorite adage is “Don’t judge a book by its cover” because I’m a writer, and I know that the quality of the book lies between the covers just as the quality of a person lies inside him or her. An adage will often use metaphor like that to express a truth.
Let’s look at some of the synonyms, or words that can be considered to be synonyms, for “adage.”
proverb — a short popular saying that expresses a commonplace truth; a maxim
proverbio — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
There’s a reason that the book in the Bible that contains the sayings of the sages is called Proverbs.
Proverbs 22: Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
If you look up adages and proverbs online, you will find that they are basically the same thing. Essentially, a “proverb” is meant to give ADVICE while an “adage” is simply stating an accepted TRUTH.
Another cognate duo that can be used synonymously for “adage” or “proverb,” though, is the following:
maxim — an expression of a general truth or principle; a rule of conduct
máxima — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
My favorite “maxim” is the Golden Rule:
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
In my opinion, if everyone lived by that “maxim,” the world would be a much better place, and most, if not all, or our problems would disappear.
Let’s look at two other synonyms for “saying” that aren’t used as often as the three I’ve mentioned so far.
aphorism — a concise statement containing a general truth or principle; adage
aforisma — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
apothegm — a short, pithy, instructive saying
apotegma — the Spanish cognate of the same meaning
The more time you spend trying to differentiate the meanings of these five synonyms for types of sayings, the more confused you’ll probably become, but what I like about them is that they are all cognates because the etymology of each duo comes to us from Latin (and possibly Greek before the words traversed Latin to get to us in their current forms).
“Adages” and “proverbs” and the like are useful expressions or sayings that can provide guidance or motivation to us, so it’s good to know that if you see the word “adagio” in a Spanish religious pamphlet, as I did recently, you will know that what follows is a saying containing some general wisdom.
Whether you prefer to call your words to live by “adages,” “maxims,” “proverbs,” “aphorisms,” “apothegms,” or even “epigrams” (for which the Spanish cognate is “epigrama”), I hope you have a few favorites.
Ben Franklin was famous for his “epigrams.” One such that he used and that has been shortened further in modern times was, “There are no gains, without pains.” Now we tend to say: “No pain, no gain.”
My guiding “maxim” is this:
We make time for what matters.
I make time each week to write “Cognate Cognizance” because helping to enrich others’ vocabularies matters to me as does keeping my working knowledge of Spanish and Linguistics strong. I’m glad you make time to read it. If you don’t want to miss any weeks (or would like to be able to access the podcast version), upgrade to paid now. Thanks.
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
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