Iranian Studies

ISSN: 0021-0862 (Print) 1475-4819 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cist20

Warm Hearts and Sharp Tongues: Life in 555

Proverbs from the Zagros Mountains of Iran

Peter Unseth

To cite this article: Peter Unseth (2017) Warm Hearts and Sharp Tongues: Life in
555 Proverbs from the Zagros Mountains of Iran, Iranian Studies, 50:1, 163-167, DOI:
10.1080/00210862.2017.1269451

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2017.1269451

Published online: 16 Jan 2017.

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 Iranian Studies, 2017
Vol. 50, No. 1, 163167

Review

Warm Hearts and Sharp Tongues: Life in 555 Proverbs from the Zagros Moun-
tains of Iran, Erika Friedl, Vienna: New Academic Press, 2015, ISBN 978-3-7003-
1925-2 (pbk), 269 pp.

The book under review is a good example of how to present a collection of proverbs.
Here the proverbs and their explanations are grouped under 13 topical headings, such
as one on local ethnic identity Lurs, Lurs, and also The Old, Death, and the Dead,
Generosity, and Obligations, and Full House. Each proverb is rst given in a
Roman script transcription, e.g. Sag ve piri gellei nibu, followed by a translation
into English, An old dog wont become a herding dog (p. 80). Refreshingly,
unlike the practice of some editor of proverb collections, Erika Friedl has not
simply quoted a parallel English-language proverb as a translation or explanation,
You cant teach an old dog new tricks. Her explanation does, however, allude to
it: In old age one doesnt learn new tricks. The author then cites two examples
where people had quoted the proverban older person struggling with tuning a
new radio and another cursing new bathroom xtures at his sons home.
Proverb collections from smaller ethno-linguistic communities are always welcomed
by both proverb scholars and those who study a region. This wonderful collection of
Lur proverbs from the southwest sector of Iran stands above the great majority of col-
lections since Friedl has not only collected many proverbs, but has also provided expla-
nations of each with many examples of their use and application.
164 Review

The author spent a total of seven years living and working in Iran between 1965
and 2006, much of it in the Lur area. During this time, she not only saw great cultural
changes, she also learned a great deal about the Lur people and their culture, including
how these changes have interacted with and are reected by their proverbs. She has
previously written about proverb use by Iranian women and about Iranian storytellers.
Proverb scholars have utilized, described, and written about many ways to collect
proverbs. All agree that collecting proverbs with their contexts is the ideal, but that
it takes too long and is dependent on conversational alertness. Friedl has overcome
some of the obstacles by living in an area long enough to learn the local language
and elicit proverbs, but also by winning the active support of the community. As
soon as people realized my casual interest they insisted that I write down proverbs
and that I get them right (p. 7).
The great benet of this voluntary community involvement was that she was not
only told many proverbs, but also told many examples of how specic proverbs are
usede.g. A woman used this proverb to tell her husband that his ambitious expec-
tations of a career in the local government were unrealistic (p. 147). Three of the
explanations include examples of how particular proverbs were said sotto voce, such
as when a pilgrim was leaving on pilgrimage to Karbala, a man quoted a cynical
proverb about religious pilgrims sotto voce, behind the pilgrims back (p. 72).
Knowing such details about the actual use of proverbs gives much deeper insights
than merely a sterile list of proverbs.
Friedl is not merely a proverb scribe, she is primarily a cultural anthropologist. She
has written at least four previous books about this area, analyzing aspects of the
culture. Her explanations of the uses of the proverbs reect her insights from cultural
anthropology. For example, she refers to different schema in explanations of over
fty of the proverbs. She uses the concept of schema to explain different applications
of a proverb: Work one does for others brings happiness but has no benet (p. 104).
In the schema of good work, this proverb was used to refer to a young niece who
helped her old aunt, but the job was done poorly so the aunt had to do it again.
The aunt was happy the young girl had tried, but a relative criticized the young
nieces work with this proverb. In the schema of embarrassment, a man used the
same proverb to complain that having received a signicant favor, he would
someday be called on to repay it.
There is no universally agreed-upon denition of proverb, and Friedl did not feel
bound to any strict denition. She admits she uses a exible denition, her goal being
to give insights into Lur culture, rather than satisfying some proverb scholars stan-
dards. Some of the sayings listed may simply be clichs, but the purpose of the
book is to explain life among the Lur, not merely to satisfy proverb scholars.
Friedl shows readers that the Lur do not live in isolation politically, culturally, or
linguistically. She specically identies some proverbs as being more widespread
than merely among the Lur, such as S/he pulls my life-soul out of my nose,
known and used also in Farsi throughout Iran (pp. 133, 134).
Many proverb scholars interested in the origins of specic proverbs will nd much
to ponder here. Not surprisingly, three of the proverbs are derived from Moll Nasr al-
 Review 165

Din stories. Some are taken from song lyrics (Friedl mentions love songs and wedding
songs as sources, but no mourning songs). Fourteen such proverbs are given with an
ascribed local source, such as Because the mason laid the rst sun-dried brick crook-
edly, the wall will be crooked forever (p. 45). This is ascribed to a highly regarded
former local builder of the past who used a metaphor from his trade to complain
about tribal chiefs who ruled the area. The proverb is still very much in use today,
one person using it to complain about the Islamic government, while another used
it to defend the Islamic government. (Proverbs are notorious for being applicable in
contradictory ways.) The ascribed creations of proverbs may be doubted as historical
legends, but the author gives one new proverb whose origin is documented: a quota-
tion by Reinhold Loefer, Friedls spouse. He mocked religious hypocrites who claim
sickness to avoid fasting (p. 136), and this has become a proverb that is still in use
today.
The explanations of the proverbs and examples of their use provide a variety of brief
though often penetrating insights into Lur culture. For example, Friedl cited the
proverb In this boy-year my belly is not full. In this girl-year I have a big belly. In
explaining the use of this proverb, she inserts, The sex of children born was
thought to be linked to a recurrent pattern like other natural cycles, therefore a
woman was disappointed not being pregnant during a time when a large number of
boy babies were born (p. 145).
A language communitys corpus of proverbs always contains sayings that have been
used for many generations. As a result, some of the proverbs will mention or be built
around objects and customs that have disappeared. Friedl specically identies that
some of these proverbs are still in use, such as the one about the way women formerly
made butter with a bag of milk hanging from a tripod (p. 94). Though adults may still
value and use such proverbs, she also documents an example where a teacher used this
type of proverb, but had to explain an agricultural term of the past to his students so
that they would understand it (p. 47).
But the body of proverbs used in a culture also changes through time. New times
call for new proverbs. As the culture changes, new proverbs appear reecting changing
values and customs. Fortunately for Friedl, her involvement with Iran has spanned
times of signicant social and economic changes so that she has been able to
observe and document not only a phase of traditional life but also the adoption of
new values and customs.
Friedl mentions some proverbs as being new, such as the one she heard only after
2002 about an increasingly popular custom in Iran of preparing and distributing food
in honor of and for the commemoration of saints or dead relatives (p. 74), Votive
stew (makes) paradise cheap (sh nazri, behesht arzune). The proverb is used to make
fun of this new practice being promoted by clerics in televised sermons.
As another example, the traditional roles and expectations of women among the
Lur limited their options in some ways, but women are now allowed more
freedom, such as in choosing marriage partners and in handling money. Hence
there are new proverbs that reect these new values (or possibly even older proverbs
are now being repeated more openly). Regarding women handling money, the proverb
166 Review

The hand is in her own pocket means that the woman controls her own money
(p. 168). Regarding relations between wives and husbands, A wife must not let her
husband have two pairs of socks means that a wife should keep her husband on a
tight leash. Accordingly, this opinion and the proverb made the rounds after
2000. By 2006 there were anecdotes and rumors about many women in Iran
being de facto heads of their families (p. 167).
A communitys repertoire of proverbs is a rich resource, a resource that allows
people to reshape and modify them as the need demands. Therefore, it is not surpris-
ing to nd proverbs that have been shaped into two contradictory forms, such as
[the] Work [that] one does for others brings happiness but has no benets or
[the] Work [that] one does for others has benet but brings no happiness
(p. 104). In another case, a woman used a proverb that mentioned a camel, but sub-
stituted sheep; she did this to pointedly refer to a person who was believed to be a
sheep rustler (p. 225).
Those knowledgeable about medical traditions in Iran are familiar with the system
of humoralism (T ebb-e jlinusi/T ebb-e yunni), the belief in a balance of forces in
the body. In Iran, certain categorizations of foods as hot or cold and the physical con-
ditions that are related to eating different types of food is widespread. A number of
proverbs in the book directly address this; for example, A cold health condition
[gets cured] by a spice/herb merchant, a hot one with a pomegranate (p. 199).
Additionally, a number of the explanations and applications of proverbs also
involve this humoralism.
Some traits, customs, outlooks, and proverbs are widespread in Iran. Therefore,
people looking at proverbs from the center of Iran may claim this to be the source
of proverbs that are found in both the center and the peripheries. However,
proverb scholars nd it is frequently impossible to prove the origin or direction of bor-
rowing for proverbs. For example, Lur has a proverb An understanding person [will
get the point] from a hint, one who lacks understanding wont get it with hundred
lashes (p. 211). We can also encounter similar proverbs in Persian, Tajik, and
Nepali, among others.
The proverbs of the common folk around the world are often used to mock hypo-
critical religious leadersMuslim, Hindu, Christian, etc.and the Lur are no excep-
tion. Some proverbs tend to explicitly mock the clerics, for example: The Mullahs
turban is so big, it needs four quarts of fabric (p. 70). But Friedl gives many examples
of how ordinary proverbs were used to complain about hypocritical clerics. The expla-
nations for fteen of the proverbs include illustrations of those used to mock clerics,
such as a proverb about being two-faced, which was explained as illustrated by
mullahs today and the government (p. 181).
The book has a useful eight-page index. Even the index entries provide insights
about how important some topics are among the Lur, such as del (seat of emotion),
inheritance, merit (religious), and curses. The index and the topical arrangement
will help readers who are familiar with Lur to nd a proverb that they may be
aware of (though alphabetizing the proverbs within the sections would have made
this easier). All of these features make this book a joy for a proverb scholar.
 Review 167

Sadly, in real life a large number of uses described for the proverbs involve land dis-
putes stemming from arguments about usufruct that the person tending the land can
claim ownership of it. The usufruct right is a time-honored custom, both popular and
disparaged, that over the generations has caused much discontent, although its mech-
anism and pitfalls were well known (p. 228).
This book will also be useful to proverb scholars in multiple ways. It builds on a
transcribed collection of 555 proverbs that are translated into English and explain
their use. Beyond that, it gives several quotation proverbs (wellerisms) and dialogue
proverbs, a proverb form that is found only in limited parts of the world, including
western Asia, such as The vulture says, Ill shriek and the shepherd will forget,
[and] the wolf says, Ill eat the kids tail (p. 218). There are also many examples
of poetically formed proverbs, such as Zir tir sorkh berra, zir zoun sorkh nerra
[Walk under a hot bullet but not under a hot tongue] (p. 243) and even tongue-twis-
ters Engr hvuyal, nekshun men nek yeke [like co-wives, pecking each others beak]
(p. 169).
Friedls book will be a useful resource for many scholars of Iran and of proverbs, but
it will also be vital for understanding the Lur area as it describes many facets of Lur
culture, including many changes in the last few decades.

Peter Unseth
Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (GIAL), Dallas, TX
2017, Peter Unseth
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2017.1269451