παροιμία

παροιμία — paroimía

παροιμία, παροιμίας, ἡ (παρά by, aside from (cf. παρά, IV. 2), and οἶμος way), properly, a saying out of the usual course or deviating from the usual manner of speaking (cf. Suidas 654, 15; but Hesychius under the word, et al., 'a saying heard by the wayside' (παρά, IV. 1), i. e. a current or trite saying, proverb; cf. Curtius, § 611; Stephanus' Thesaurus, under the word), hence,

1. a clever and sententious saying, a proverb (Aeschylus Ag. 264; Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, others; examples from Philo are given by Hilgenfeld, Die Evangelien, p. 292f (as de ebriet. § 20; de Abr. § 40; de vit. Moys. i. § 28; ii. § 5; de exsecrat. § 6); for מָשָׁל in Pro 1:1; Pro 25:1 the Alex. manuscript; Sir 6:35, etc.): τό τῆς παροιμίας, what is in the proverb (Lucian, dial. mort. 6, 2; 8, 1), 2Pe 2:22.

2. any dark saying which shadows forth some didactic truth, especially a symbolic or figurative saying: παροιμίαν λέγειν, Joh 16:29; ἐν παροιμίαις λαλεῖν, ibid. 25; "speech or discourse in which a thing is illustrated by the use of similes and comparisons; an allegory, i. e. extended and elaborate metaphor": Joh 10:6.