it is a wise child that knows his own father
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]The expression itself is ancient, attested in Homer’s Odyssey: “μήτηρ μέν τέ μέ φησι τοῦ ἔμμεναι, αὐτὰρ ἐγώ γε οὐκ οἶδ’· οὐ γάρ πώ τις ἑὸν γόνον αὐτὸς ἀνέγνω”.
A version, “it is a wise father that knows his own child” (spelling modernized), is used in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and the modern version, in a translation of the Odyssey by Samuel Butler (see quotations), which likely popularized the proverb.
Proverb
[edit]it is a wise child that knows his own father
- One can never be sure of one's paternity.
- [c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], signature C2, verso:
- [Launcelot Gobbo]. Do you not know me Father? [Old] Gob[bo]. Alacke ſir, I am ſand blinde, I know you not. Lan.[sic] Nay, in deede if you had your eyes you might faile of the knowing me: it is a wiſe Father that knowes his own child.]
- 1900, Homer, “Book I”, in Samuel Butler, transl., The Odyssey: Rendered into English Prose for the Use of Those who Cannot Read the Original, London: A[rthur] C. Fifield, →OCLC, page 6:
- "My mother," answered Telemachus, "tells me I am son to Ulysses, but it is a wise child that knows his own father. […]"
Translations
[edit]one can never be sure of one's paternity
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