A rolling stone gathers no moss

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"A rolling stone does not add moss."

The English proverb A rolling stone gathers no moss literally means: "A rolling stone does not set moss ." It describes the fact that moss cannot grow on a piece of rock as long as it is in motion, because the plant is always is rubbed off again. The proverb, for the origin of which several explanations compete, has different figurative meanings with opposing evaluations, depending on whether the growth of the moss is interpreted positively as a sign of development (in relation to the plant) or negatively as a sign of stagnation (in relation to the stone) becomes. The derived symbol of the rolling stone was used several times in naming in the field of music.

origin

The origin of the proverb has not been conclusively clarified. It is attributed to the Roman mime author Publilius Syrus , who in the 1st century BC Lived. It should be included in his Sententiae , a collection of his sayings. The common Latin form of the saying, Saxum volutum non obducitur musco (literally: “A stone that is moved is not covered by moss”) does not appear in the Sententiae . In contrast, it occurs in the third part of Adagia , a collection of Latin sayings by Erasmus of Rotterdam , which he published for the first time in 1500 and expanded in the following years. Accordingly, Erasmus is also cited as the source of the proverb, for example in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable .

John Heywood's collection of proverbs from 1546 contains a translation into English which, apart from minor deviations, corresponds to the present form: “ the rollyng stone never gathereth mosse. ”(German:“ The rolling stone never sets moss. ”) In the area of ​​the later United States it is mentioned for the first time by John Wise in his work A Word of Comfort to a Melancholy Country from 1721.

Meanings

In the Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable the proverb is related to two other Latin expressions : Planta quae saepius transfertus non coalescit. (German: "A seedling, which is often moved, does not take root.") and Saepius plantata arbor fructum profert exiguum. (German for example: "A tree that is planted often bears small fruits.") Here, plant growth is shown as desirable, movement as obstructive and unprofitable. One interpretation of the proverb, therefore, is that a person who barely dwells in one place, does not settle down, and make no bonds, will seldom be successful; it lacks the roots that are indispensable for a prosperous development. A translation into German that takes this valuation into account would be, for example: “An unsteady person gets nowhere.” A similar, more abstract interpretation says that whoever keeps moving, avoids responsibility and duties of care.

Another interpretation sees moss as a symptom of unwanted stagnation . This leads to the opposite assessment of the element of movement: it is viewed positively, as a release of bonds that hinder progress, as a means against the symptoms of aging or as a source of creativity. Understood in this way, the proverb can be compared with the German “Whoever rests, he rusts”.

In order to do justice to the two contrary value judgments, McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs sees the adage as fundamentally neutral in terms of value; a value only arises through the context of its specific use. Similarly, the maps American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy , the ambivalence one.

The allegory of the rolling stone has meanwhile acquired its own significance in the English language. A “ rolling stone ” is the term used to describe a person with no ties to their homeland, a drifter or a “ tramp ”. In a further interpretation, the term is also used for unstable or restless people. The “ rolling stone ” is therefore also an uprooted person who avoids or is unable to take on a job or a lifestyle in the long term and is therefore characterized as unreliable and inefficient.

Correctness of the literal meaning

In the television series MythBusters - Die Wissensjäger , a format of the Discovery Channel that deals with the reenactment and verification of " urban myths ", the literal statement of the proverb was checked for its truthfulness. The experimental setup consisted of two tons, one of which was kept in constant motion. In both stones were placed on which a buttermilk and moss mixture had been applied. After six months - the longest experiment in the MythBusters series - moss had grown on every single one of the resting stones, while none of the moving stones showed any growth.

use

For the use of the proverb and the derived symbol, names from the fields of literature and music are given below as examples:

Examples from the literature

A large number of literary works have the proverb in their title. For example, the Irish-American novelist Thomas Mayne Reid (1818–1883) christened an 1866 novel Lost Lenore, or, The adventures of a rolling stone . Two years later, his compatriot Harry Castlemon (1842–1915) published No Moss; or, The Career of a Rolling Stone . The French writer George Sand (1804–1876) wrote Pierre qui roule (literally: stone that rolls ), in English: A rolling stone . O. Henry (1862–1910) was a humorous weekly magazine called The Rolling Stone from 1894–1895 . Horatio Algers (1832-1899) A Rolling Stone; or, The Adventures of a Wanderer was published in 1902, Patricia Wentworth's (1878–1961) novel Rolling Stone in 1940 .

Biographies also use the “ rolling stone ” in the title. For example, the American author and documentary filmmaker Lowell Thomas (1892–1981) published the life story of the artist and nature photography Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore in 1931 under the title Rolling Stone , his compatriot, the actor Fred Stone (1873–1959) under the same title in 1945 his autobiography.

Examples from the field of music

The American blues musician Muddy Waters published a song in 1948 under the title Rollin 'Stone . It contains the lines: “ I got a boy child's comin, […] he's gonna be a rollin 'stone. ”(German:“ I'm getting a boy, […] he will be a rolling stone . ”) With the piece Mannish Boy from 1956 he took up the subject again, it says:“ I'm a rollin 'stone ”(German:“ I am a rolling stone ”).

Brian Jones was inspired by Muddy Waters when he chose a name for the band he formed with Mick Jagger , Keith Richards , Ian Stewart and Dick Taylor in 1962 : The Rolling Stones . There are different statements as to which passage from Muddy Waters' work should have been decisive. The later Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman blames the line from Mannish Boy in his biography , other sources refer to the title of the 1948 blues piece.

In 1965, 24-year-old Bob Dylan wrote the song Like a Rolling Stone , in which he tells of the life of a formerly socially integrated, now uprooted person. The song is still considered one of the most influential rock songs of all time; In 2004 it was voted the best song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine , one of the most important magazines in the industry, based on a worldwide survey of musicians . The name of this journal, founded in 1967 in San Francisco, is also traced back to Muddy Waters.

Don McLean reversed the saying in American Pie (1971): "And moss grows fast on a rolling stone / but that's not how it used to be", possibly alluding to Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones.

Papa Was a Rollin 'Stone is one of the most famous soul pieces from The Undisputed Truth . With a cover version of this piece, the Temptations reachedthe top of the US music charts in 1971. The title has been covered again and again, including in 1993 by George Michael , whomixedthe song with the Seal piece Killer and thus reached number 1 on the British single charts .

In addition, there are a number of references in the field of music, for example by the Beatles in the piece Dig It (1970) (1971) or by Elton John in the song Philadelphia Freedom (1975).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c A rolling stone gathers no moss. In: dict.cc . Retrieved September 14, 2010 .
  2. ↑ a b Episode 31: Breaking Glass, A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss, Shop-Vac Jet Engine. May 18, 2005, accessed September 13, 2010 .
  3. ^ Publius Syrus : The moral sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman slave: from the Latin . LE Bernard & co., 1856, p. 48 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed September 18, 2010], translation into English).
  4. ^ John Bartlett (1820-1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919. Retrieved September 18, 2010 .
  5. ^ Littera S. cum sententiis XCV. Retrieved September 18, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Sententiae. In: Bibliotheca Augustana . Retrieved September 18, 2010 (Latin).
  7. ^ Publilius Syrus. Sententiae - Proverbs. Retrieved September 18, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Desiderii Erasmi Roterodami: Adagia. In: Bibliotheca Augustana . Retrieved September 18, 2010 (Latin).
  9. ↑ a b Rolling Stone. A rolling stone gathers no moss . In: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable . ( Online at bibliomania.com [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  10. ↑ John Heywood: A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the English tongue . compacte in a matter of concernyng two maners of mariages, made and set for the future by Iohn Heywood. Imprinted at London in Fletestrete by Thomas Berthelet prynter to the kynges hyghnesse, 1546. - Reissued as: John Heywood: The proverbs of John Heywood . Being the "Proverbes" of that author printed 1546 Ed., With notes and introduction. Ed .: Julian Sharman. G. Bell and sons, 1874, p. 54 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed December 21, 2010]).
  11. ↑ a b c A rolling stone gathers no moss. In: The Phrase Finder. Retrieved September 18, 2010 .
  12. ^ A b Gregory Titelman: Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings . Random House, 1996, ISBN 978-0-679-44554-8 ( extracts online [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  13. ^ Samuel Singer : Thesaurus proverbiorum medii aevi . tape 8 . Walter de Gruyter, 1995, ISBN 978-3-11-008529-7 , p. 125 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  14. ^ A b c d Richard A. Spears: McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs . The McGraw-Hill, 2002, ISBN 978-0-07-146934-0 ( entry on “ rolling stone gathers no moss ” online [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  15. ^ A b c d The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy . 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin, 2005 ( entry on “ A rolling stone gathers no moss ” online at Dictionary.com [accessed September 18, 2010]).
  16. ^ A rolling stone gathers no moss. In: Phrasen.com. Retrieved September 14, 2010 .
  17. ↑ rolling stone. In: Link Everything Online . Retrieved September 15, 2010 .
  18. ↑ rolling stone. In: dict.cc . Retrieved September 15, 2010 .
  19. ↑ rolling stone. Retrieved September 18, 2010 .
  20. ↑ Thomas Mayne Reid : Lost Lenore, or, The adventures of a rolling stone . De Witt, 1866 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 5, 2011]).
  21. ↑ Harry Castlemon: No Moss; or, The Career of a Rolling Stone . 1968 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 5, 2011]).
  22. ↑ George Sand : A rolling stone . R. Osgood, 1871 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 11, 2011]).
  23. ^ Petri Liukkonen: George Sand (1804-1876) - pseudonym of Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin. Archived from the original on May 15, 2014 ; accessed on January 11, 2011 .
  24. ^ O. Henry : Rolling Stone . Echo Library, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4068-3573-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed March 8, 2011] collective edition).
  25. ↑ Horatio Alger : A Rolling Stone; or, The Adventures of a Wanderer . Thompson & Thomas, 1902 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed March 8, 2011]).
  26. ↑ Patricia Wentworth : Rolling Stone . JB Lippincott ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed March 8, 2011]).
  27. ^ Lowell Thomas: Rolling stone: the life and adventures of Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore . Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1931 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 11, 2011]).
  28. ↑ Fred Stone: Rolling Stone . Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1945 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 11, 2011]).
  29. ^ Bill Wyman : Bill Wyman's Rolling Stones Story . Dorling Kindersley , 2002, ISBN 3-8310-0391-2 , pp. 37 .
  30. ^ Robert Palmer: Muddy Waters: 1915-1983 . In: Rolling Stone . No. 398 , June 23, 1983 ( article online on Rolling Stone website [accessed September 15, 2012]).
  31. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: The Rolling Stones: Biography. In: Allmusic . Retrieved September 19, 2010 (English).
  32. ↑ a b c Manfred Horak: Dylan, Bob: Every generation gets the music it deserves. 2005, accessed June 3, 2009 .
  33. ↑ Bob Dylan : Like a Rolling Stone . Lyrics online. Retrieved September 19, 2010 .
  34. ↑ The Temptations. In: Internet pages of Rolling Stone Magazine . Retrieved September 15, 2012 .
  35. ↑ In September 2012 the online database Coverinfo.de listed over 40 cover versions by well-known artists. Coverinfo.de. Retrieved September 15, 2012 .
  36. ↑ Five Live (EP) in the Official UK Charts (English)
  37. ^ A b Denise Sullivan: The Rock, the Roll, and the Catfish. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on September 18, 2010 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.crawdaddy.com