General Information About Item:

• Verbal Folklore, Proverb
• Language: Russian
• Country of Origin: Russia
• Informant: Myself
• Date Collected: 2010

Informant Data:

Jennifer Gadalov is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her mother’s family immigrated to the United States about 20 years ago, and her father immigrated from Russia after meeting her mother on a trip to Los Angeles. She was raised in a fairly traditional Russian household with Russian being her first language and the language she speaks at home with her family. She is completely fluent and enjoys to embrace other aspects of Russian culture as she feels a strong connection to the country despite not being born there. She also travels to Moscow, Russia once a year to visit family that still live there.

Contextual Data: 

Growing up, Jennifer would consistently hear this proverb, especially from her mother. Whether she didn’t want to study or didn’t want to play tennis, her mother would look at her and sternly repeat this proverb to motivate Jennifer. The first time Jennifer ever heard this proverb was around the age of 10 when she began playing tennis more competitively. She initially began playing tennis for fun but gradually became one of the best players in the country, which proved to be a lot of pressure for her. She sometimes struggled with the pressure and would lose motivation to play or practice, which is when her mother would speak this proverb. Her mother believed strongly in this proverb, and she wanted it to be a reminder for Jennifer that she has achieved so much because of her hard work, but the work doesn’t stop there as she needs to continue pushing herself in order to succeed the way she wants to. This proverb stuck with Jennifer because of the visual language and the motivation she got from remembering she still has work to do in order to fulfill her dreams.

Social Context:

This proverb is often spoken towards an inactive person who refuses to change anything in their life, but instead expects the people around them to help better their lives, or even simply expects their life to move forward without putting in the work. The proverb translates to “water does not flow under a lying stone,” which essentially means if nothing is done, things will not budge or move and change will not occur. There are many people who sit around and expect to still succeed in life, whether by luck or by others helping them, so this proverb hopes to encourage the person to take action in their life. Hard work is not always enjoyable work, but if you do not work in life, your whole life can go by, and you will not achieve anything. A person who is lazy, inactive, or passive will not be able to achieve the matter or goals by itself because there is no effort put in towards moving your life forward. If you do not exert effort into your goals and achieving success, then there will be no force to propel your life forward, but if you put the work into your goals, you will continue growing.

Cultural Context:

Russians, like many other cultures, praise hard work and punish laziness. From the beginning of time, Russian people had to fight for their survival. Being an agrarian county, during earlier times, everyday work in the field was extremely hard work, but it was necessary in order to feed your family. Russians worked to survive, which made hard work normal for them. They got used to dealing with the challenges consistently thrown at them, so they do not allow it when they see an inactive and lazy person. As a country, society, and culture that faced revolutions, purges, and mass imprisonment, the people had to fight through a lot in order to make it out, which is why Russia is viewed as one of the toughest countries. To this day, Russian people continue to face challenges every day but can overcome most anything because of their grit and determination. Thankfully, Russians no longer have to face revolutions, purges, and mass imprisonment, which allows them to move forward in life and achieve success. Since this opportunity is fairly new, Russians are strongly encouraged to push themselves to work as hard as possible to achieve new goals and heights that were not previously possible for them. Because of these new opportunities, laziness and inactivity are looked down upon but are still prevalent, which is why this proverb is so popular.

Item:

Orally transmitted proverb: Под лежачий камень вода не течёт

Pronunciation: Pod lezhachiy kamen’ voda ne techot

Literal Translation: Under lying stone, water does not flow

Translation: Water does not flow under a lying stone

Informant/Collector’s Comments:

When I become one of the best tennis players in the United States, I lost a lot of motivation and desire to work and practice hard because the sport was no longer fun due to the pressure and expectations I felt. At the same time, I still wanted to be as good as I was. My parents recognized how I was feeling and, my mother knew she had to speak a proverb that would emotionally impact me, while also captivating me, which is exactly how this proverb makes me feel. The visual language in this proverb is fascinating and enthralling, which caused me to really think through the proverb and understand the hidden deeper meaning. The proverb has also stuck with me because the deeper meaning is hidden rather than being straightforward. You have to break down the proverb to find the lesson it is teaching you. The proverb’s lesson continues to influence my life every day because you cannot further your life or move forward without putting in the hard work that might come along in order for that to happen. The proverb’s structure does not include the typical rhyming and repetition, but the deeper meaning and visual language included have made this proverb popular in Russia.

Collector’s Name: Jennifer Gadalov

Hanover, NH

Dartmouth College

RUSS 013 Fall 2020

Tags/Keywords:

• Russian
• Proverb
• Hard work
• Water
• Stone