O jedzeniu i pracy – na podstawie polskich przysłów

Abstract

The selected proverbs point to the fact that eating is something obvious and natural, a repeated activity that aims at sating one’s appetite. Eating as a sign of life in proverbs has been contrasted with death. It is also a reward, payment for one’s work. However, some exceptions to this rule could be distinguished, including situations when: 1. one man works while another eats, i.e. “consumes” the fruit of the work of the former; 2. one eats but does not work, i.e. is a lazy person; 3. one works but does not eat, i.e. does not receive payment for his or her work, or the payment is unsatisfactory. Among the elements that build the linguistic picture of eating are the relations between eating and working: 1. work dominates eating, i.e. eating does not counterbalance the effort put in working, payment for work is insufficient (the point of view here is of a farmhand or a peasant); 2. eating dominates work, i.e. one eats more than one has worked for (one looses all the possessions, or falls into poverty); 3. balance is maintained between working and eating, i.e. one “eats up” everything that he or she has worked for. The linguistic picture of eating and working has been formed not only on the basis of life experience of many generations that reflects social hierarchy: gentry, peasantry (many proverbs present the viewpoint of a villager, a folklore bearer), but also under the influence of the Bible. This is because work is identified with a virtue, its aim is the maintenance and development of life, while not working (laziness) is a sin.