Au Contraire

Posted by Masakim March 22, 2002In reply to Au Contraire posted by TheFallen on March 21, 2002

See
www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 8 messages 978.html

Hi!

Thanks for the response. Actually, that article is exactly where I first saw this proverb, but that still doesn't tell me what it's origin is...

Anyone?

Thanks!
Mario.

To be brutally clear, it's a J.K. Rowling adaptation of an ancient proverb that is still with us, namely "let sleeping dogs lie", which was I believe around in much the same form in Roman times.

Yes, I think so.
The proverb "Let sleeping dogs lie" was used by Chaucer in _Troilus and Criseyde_:
"It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake."

It is also found in other European languages. For example, the Medieval French version is "N'esveillez pas lou chien qui dort."

J. K. Rowling may have changed a monosyllabic and mundane "dog" into a magical and mythical "dragon."

While not doubting the ever-resourceful Masakim's information for even a second, it's worth idly pointing out that the French, who are a contrary bunch at the best of times, have a more modern idiom, namely "ne pas reveiller le chat qui dort ", or literally "don't wake a sleeping cat".

_dictionnaire des proverbes sentences et maximes_ (References Larousse, 1986) gives in its index:

Ne reveillez pas le [chat] (chien, lion) qui dort -> PRUDENCE.

However, the entry PRUDENCE doesn't give a "chat" version.

Anglais. --N'eveillez pas le lion qui dort.
(Philip Sidney, _The Arcadia_, IV [1590])

Francais. --Ne reveillez pas le chien qui dort.
(_Proverbia vulgalia et latina_, manuscrit du XIIIe s., Leyde.)

BTW, "sleeping dragon" reminds me of a film titled "Crouching Tiger, Sleeping Dragon," directed by Ang Lee.