Talk:strike while the iron is hot

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RFD discussion: March–April 2018[edit]

The following information has failed Wiktionary's deletion process (permalink).

It should not be re-entered without careful consideration.

A proverb defined as “(imperative, idiomatic) Take advantage of opportunity.”

Redundant to the definition given under the verb POS. — Ungoliant (falai) 15:34, 3 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the proverb sense is redundant to the second (nonliteral) verb sense, so delete. - -sche (discuss) 15:49, 3 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as a duplicate. Is it a proverb anyway, or just an idiom? DonnanZ (talk) 17:28, 3 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Since this seems uncontroversial (since no actual sense information is being removed, it all being present in the verb section) I've gone ahead and removed the "proverb" section. - -sche (discuss) 18:01, 10 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Unstriken: closing a RFD with so few participants in 7 days is not a good idea, IMHO. People have to notice the discussion in the first place; I check the discussions approximately once a week, and sometimes leave things without comment to see what others are going to say.
On the substance: there is a proverb use that is distinct from the idiom use. Whether that requires a separate entry is not so clear.
The proverb section was added in diff in 2009 by DCDuring. --Dan Polansky (talk) 08:37, 18 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I was probably working by analogy to the cases in which we have a separate PoS section for an "interjection" (sensu lato) for a word that is a verb, noun, etc. (eg, pad#Etymology 6, piss off). As long as the entry is categorized as a proverb (ie, by hard categorization), the proverb PoS section adds nothing, unless someone might like it for a translation target. DCDuring (talk) 16:05, 18 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Deleted. - -sche (discuss) 17:11, 14 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Etymological evidence[edit]

Egbert of Liege : The Well-Laden Ship trans Robert Babcock (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library) 2013, dated to the early 11th century, contains the proverb Dum calidum fuerit, debetur cudere ferrum - One ought to strike iron while it’s hot. While not necessarily the origin, it is an early instance and suggests the proverb arrived in English from a Latin source. 2.26.208.140 13:01, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]


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