PROF Wolfgang Mieder (born 1944) is best known for his work on paremiology. Paroemias means proverbs and paremiology is the study of proverbs. Mieder says that the discussion as to what proverb is and what it is not has been going on since Aristotle’s times.

One can find several definitions of the word proverb. For instance, Concise Oxford English Dictionary says a proverb is “a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice”. But Mieder puts it more comprehensively when he says “a proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorisable form and which is handed down from generation to generation” (Proverbs: A Handbook, 2004, p.2).

Almost every language of the world has proverbs, but body of Urdu proverbs is rather exceptionally large. Beginning with Shah Husain Haqeeqat’s Khazeenat-ul-Amsaal, compiled in 1215 Hijri /1800-01 AD, there has been a constant flow of books and booklets on the subject, collecting and defining Urdu proverbs, but Jam’e-ul-Amsaal, compiled by Waris Sarhandi and published in 1986 by National Language Authority, or NLA (renamed as National Language Promotion Department), is the most comprehensive one, recording some 7,000 Urdu proverbs. Shanul Haq Haqqee, who reviewed and revised the book, had mentioned in his intro that proverbs have several aspects. For instance, they are very much a subject of sociological studies as they have clues to the social and cultural phenomena. The more varied the fabric of the society ethnically and linguistically was, the larger and varied the body of proverbs would be. Since Urdu has a diverse linguistic background — borrowing words from Persian, Arabic, Hindi and some regional dialects of Urdu — its proverbs are more varied, colourful, manifesting social and cultural richness. Linguistically, too, Urdu’s proverbs speak volumes of an eclectic mix that Urdu has borrowed from, though text of some of them may sound a bit alien today, says Haqqee, as they are borrowed from Urdu’s regional dialects.

Now a new, 700-page, collection titled Muheet-ul-Amsaal: Kahavaton Aur Maqoolon ka Majmoo’a has just come out. Compiled by Wasiullah Khokhar and published by Lahore’s Daarun Navaadir, it is the largest collection of Urdu proverbs and aphorisms as it proffers some 12,000 lexical entries.

While discussing the nature of Urdu proverbs, Khokhar has added a new aspect and says many Urdu proverbs have either rhyming words or repeated similar sounds — for example, aam ke aam guthliyon ke daam — creating a kind of musicality with alliteration. It increases the phonetic beauty, attractiveness and memorability. One may add that this tendency to use rhyming words and alliteration might have arisen from a tradition in Urdu that favoured verses over prose in its early phase. This can be gauged from hundreds of Urdu riddles as well that sound like couplets, adorned by rhyming words or alliteration.

Khokhar has discussed some collections of Urdu proverbs published earlier, citing Hindi Zarb-ul-Masal, a book penned in 1260 Hijri (1844-45 AD), as the earliest one. But he somehow missed the earliest work Khazeenat-ul-Amsaal by Shah Husain Haqeeqat (1800-1801), though first published some 72 years later, in 1872, by Naval Kishor and reprinted as facsimile by NLA in 1986.

The book has been divided into three sections: Urdu proverbs, Urdu aphorisms and Arabic and Persian proverbs commonly used in Urdu. As put by the compiler, it has 7,594 proverbs (kahavaten), 4,053 aphorisms (maqoole) and 1,096 Arabic and Persian proverbs and aphorisms used in Urdu. Indeed, it is a commendable job, a labor of love, brought out in an environment that no more supports the printed form of dictionaries as more and more people now go online to find the definition of words. It is an adventure on the part of publisher, too, as the sale of dictionaries in Pakistan has plummeted to the lowest level in decades and, if the statements of publishers and booksellers are any yardstick to go by, it is no more a viable commercial enterprise to print a dictionary in Pakistan, especially a voluminous one.

So one must appreciate the hard work. What is missing, however, is the definition of maqoola, or aphorism. The compiler has defined proverb and idiom in detail and would have done well to have discussed the nature of maqoola, too, since the title mentions both proverbs and aphorisms.

Wasiullah Khokhar is a scholar based in Kamonke, district of Gujranwala, Punjab. He has a profound interest in lexicography, linguistics and grammar and has to his credit several works that include bilingual dictionaries.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2025