7.0261 Rs: The Black Ox (6/80)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 21 Oct 1993 14:18:46 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0261. Thursday, 21 Oct 1993.


(1) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 10:25 PDT (31 lines)
From: Shirley Arora <ILX3ARO@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

(2) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 09:43:28 CST (13 lines)
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: black ox

(3) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 10:11:59 EDT (6 lines)
From: gene <FCOTTER@SETONVM>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

(4) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 14:37:46 BST (12 lines)
From: G.R.Hart@durham.ac.uk
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

(5) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 12:48:16 +0100 (9 lines)
From: nelro01@mailserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de (Thomas Rommel)
Subject: black ox

(6) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 13:29:56 BST (9 lines)
From: "F.W.Langley" <F.W.Langley@french.hull.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 10:25 PDT
From: Shirley Arora <ILX3ARO@UCLAMVS.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

An earlier response was accidentally transmitted before it was complete. I
was referring to Archer Taylor's article on the proverb "The black ox has not
trod on his foot," originally published in _Philological Quarterly_ 20 (1941),
266-278, and I had intended to add to that the article has been reprinted in
_Selected Writings on Proverbs by Archer Taylor_, ed. Wolfgang Mieder, Folklore
Fellows Communications #216 (Helsinki, 1975), 152-164. You will also find a
substantial number of citations of the proverb in Morris Tilley's _A Dictionary
of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_ (Ann
Arbor, 1950), p. 517, entry O103.
Shirley Arora
Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese
U.C.L.A.

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------26----
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 09:43:28 CST
From: "Jim Marchand" <marchand@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Subject: black ox

The expression "the black ox has trod upon his foot" and such like is found
under ox in the OED2, with the meaning of "misfortune has happened to him".
The black ox is, of course, Satan. Heywood's proverb dictionary mentions
the expression; I think the earliest instance in English may be from 1546.
The examples cited in OED2 are all from the latter half of the 19th c. The
fact that the expression is found in other languages makes it quite likely
that it is old. Curiously enough, a black bull (Satan) appears in Alfonso
el Sabio's Cantigas (good pictures).
Jim Marchand.
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------13----
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 10:11:59 EDT
From: gene <FCOTTER@SETONVM>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

Black oxen were sacrificed to Pluto and other infernal deities - Brewer, Dictio
nary of Phrase and Fable
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 14:37:46 BST
From: G.R.Hart@durham.ac.uk
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

>From:Jill Hart <g.r.hart@durham.ac.uk>
Subject: Black ox
The only classical reference which comes to mind is from Aeschylus'
Agamemnon, where the Watchman says that a great ox has stepped on his
tongue (meaning that he doesn't intend to talk about what he knows).
I'm sorry that I don't have the exact reference to hand. I can't see
how this fits the situation in the novel, however, unless the speaker
is being ridiculed for his inept attempt at classical allusions, perhaps.
(5) --------------------------------------------------------------18----
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 12:48:16 +0100
From: nelro01@mailserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de (Thomas Rommel)
Subject: black ox

Alan Gorre asks about the "black ox" in Meredith's _The Ordeal of Richard
Feverel_. Cf. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable:
Black ox. The black ox has trod on his foot, i.e. misfortune has come
to him. Black oxen were sacrificed to PLUTO and other infernal deities.
Thomas Rommel, Uni Tuebingen
(6) --------------------------------------------------------------24----
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 93 13:29:56 BST
From: "F.W.Langley" <F.W.Langley@french.hull.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: 7.0258 Q: Black Ox

The 'black ox' appears in proverbs ('the black ox has/has not trod upon
his/her foot') with the meaning 'hardship', 'adversity', 'misfortune',
'old age' from as eaerly as the 16th century (see examples in the Oxford
English Dictionary). The OED offers no explanation as to the origin of the
expression, nor does it suggest that it is classical in origin.