Armenian proverbs

Proverbs from all Armenian speaking parts of the world.

Ա

 * Արևն ամպի տակ չի մնայ։
 * Transliteration: Arevn ampi tak chi mnay.
 * Translation: The sun won't stay behind the cloud.
 * Meaning: The truth won't stay hidden and will come out.
 * English equivalent: A lie has short legs.
 * "Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well."
 * Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912)

Խ

 * Խնձորը ծառից հեռու չի ընկնում։
 * Transliteration: Khndzorë tsarits' heru chi ënknum.
 * Translation: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 * Meaning: Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents.
 * Source for meaning:
 * Source for meaning:

Կ

 * Կարմիր կովը կաշին չի փոխի։
 * Transliteration: Karmir kovë kashin chi p'okhi.
 * Translation: The red cow won't change his hide.
 * Meaning: Some people don't change.

Ո

 * Ուշ լինի, (ա)նուշ լինի։
 * Ush lini, (a)nush lini.''
 * Translation: Let it be late, let it be good.
 * Meaning: It does not matter if something takes long to complete, as long as the end result is desirable.

Literature

 * Armenian Proverbs and Sayings, Translated into English by R. Gevorg Bayyan, Academy of St. Lazarus, Venice, 1889. (Alternative link)
 * Bläsing, Uwe. The state of Armenian paremiology and its future tasks. Iran and the the Caucusus 7:1-2: 195-207.
 * Sakayan, Dora. 1999. On Reported and Direct Speech in Proverbs. Dialogue Proverbs in Armenian. Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship Vol. 16, 1999, pp. 303–324.
 * Armenian Proverbs and the Biblical Scripture, Gayané V. Hagopian, California State University, Northridge.
 * The Antiquity of Proverbs: Fifty Familiar Proverbs and Folk Sayings with Annotations and Lists of Connected Forms, Found in All Parts of the World, Dwight Edwards Marvin, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1922.