The proverb and related forms have long been objects of general interest and the occasion of many books, but they have attracted little serious and thorough study … . The definition of a proverb is too difficult to repay the undertaking; and should we fortunately combine in a single definition all the essential elements and give each the proper emphasis, we should not even then have a touchstone. An incommunicable quality tells us this sentence is proverbial and that one is not. Hence no definition will enable us to identify positively a sentence as proverbial. Archer Taylor

Archer Taylor’s The Proverb (1931) and An Index to ‘The Proverb’ (1934) present the classic and comprehensive study on paremiology. The Proverb deals with definition problems, metaphorical proverbs, proverbial types, variants, proverbs in folk narratives and literature, loan translations and the classical or Biblical origin of many proverbs. Taylor analyzes customs and superstitions reflected in proverbs; he studies legal, medical and weather proverbs; and he also investigates their content and style. Proverbial prophecies, blasons populaires, proverbial expressions, wellerisms and proverbial comparisons are dealt with as well. The large index contains many comparative and bibliographical notes on major European proverbs.