Expanding Lexicon

Expanding Lexicon

Episode 3- April Showers bring May Flowers

03/29/19

Welcome to Expanding Lexicon the story behind the things we say. Today’s episode is about an proverb.

               A proverb is a short and simple saying that encapsulates the knowledge of long ago (Proverb). It can be folkloric a form of oral tradition or it can originate in literature and make its way to popular saying. A relatively recent change in modern proverbs is their propensity to originate in movies, radio, music, or on the internet. With regional variations some proverbs remain generally unchanged for centuries passing their wisdom from generation to generation (Dictionary of Modern).

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What is today’s topic? April showers bring May flowers. This proverb is one of many weather predicting proverbs that pass down forecasting knowledge observed through human experience long before the advent of science and meteorology (Smith)

The proverb, April showers bring May flowers, as we use it today dates back to the 1500’s and remains essentially unchanged from the original (Random House).

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               The proverb as we use it was first published in the middle of the 16th century but it can be assumed that it was in use long before than (Johnson).  The literary origin for it can be seen in the prologue from Chaucer’s, Centebury Tales published in 1392 (General Prologue).

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1         Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
 :              When April with its sweet-smelling showers
2         The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
               Has pierced the drought of March to the root,
3         And bathed every veyne in swich licour
               And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4         Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
               By the power of which the flower is created; (Origin of April Showers)

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The change from Chaucer to a more modern proverbial rendition can be seen In the book A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry published 1557 by Thomas Tussler. In the April chapter is a short poem “Sweet April showers, Do spring May flowers”(Random House). The oxford dictionary of Quotations lists “April showers bring forth May flowers” as originating around the same time (Oxford).

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               So do April showers bring May flowers? In short yes. Modern science proves that in England where the proverb originated and the northern United States; Rain and warming temperature have an effect on the timing and abundance of spring flowering (Correa).

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               Beyond the weather forecasting value of the proverb what other knowledge can we take away?  Good things come to those who wait. If you can endure the cloudy skies and frequent rains of April than you deserve the sweet flowering of spring that comes in May (Johnson).

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               From Chaucer to short poem to a tiding of hope and spring I hope you have enjoyed today’s episode.

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Thank you for listening to today’s episode. I hope your April showers bring abundance of flowers this spring.

 

 

              

 

Works Cited

The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, Yale University Press, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/campbell/detail.action?docID=3420854.

Correa , Carla. “Do April Showers Bring May Flowers?” FiveThirtyEight, ABC News, 23 Apr. 2014, fivethirtyeight.com/features/do-april-showers-bring-may-flowers/.

“The General Prologue, Lines 1-18, with Translation: .” THE GEOFFREY CHAUCER PAGE, Harvard.edu, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/gp-aloud.htm.

Johnson, Milton. “April Showers Bring May Flowers.” Www.army.mil, U.S. Army, 12 Apr. 2012, www.army.mil/article/77700/april_showers_bring_may_flowers.

“The Origin of April Showers Bring May Flowers.” Petal Talk, 9 Mar. 2015, www.1800flowers.com/blog/flowers-in-art/april-showers-bring-may-flowers-origin/.

"Oxford Dictionary of Quotations," Fifth Edition, edited by Elizabeth Knowles (Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2001).

“Proverb - Examples and Definition of Proverb.” Literary Devices, 15 Oct. 2017, literarydevices.net/proverb/.

"Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

Smith, Charlotte. “April Showers Bring May Flowers: Weather Sayings and Their Meaning.” The Weather Channel, 5 Apr. 2017, weather.com/en-GB/unitedkingdom/weather/news/april-showers-bring-may-flowers-weather-sayings-and-their-meaning.