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Every dog has his day

Posted by ESC on March 21, 2003

In Reply to: Dog days posted by Sax on March 21, 2003

: Can you please tell me the origin/meaning of the proverb, "Every dog has its day." Thank you very much...Saxon

EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY - "According to the medieval Dutch scholar Erasmus, the saying came about as a result of the death of the Greek playwright Euripides, who in 405 B.C. was mauled and killed by a pack of dogs loosed upon him by a rival. Thus the saying is usually taken to mean that even the most lowly person will at some time get revenge on his oppressor, no matter how powerful the man may be. The Greek biographer Plutarch recorded the proverb for the first time in 'Moralia' (A.D. c. 95) rendering it as 'Even a dog gets his revenge,' and Richard Taverner included the first version in English - 'A dogge hath a day' - centuries later in his 'Proverbes' or Adages' .What was virtually the modern form appeared in John Ray's 'A collection of English Proverbs' as 'Every dog hath his day'." From Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).

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