In Italian, for example, the phrase normally summed as "the king is dead, long live the king" is "morto un papa, se ne fa un altro" (when a pope dies, you make another one).
Another one would be "andare a Canossa" (go to Canossa), referring to an act of great humiliation and originating from the act of humiliation that the Holy Roman emperor Henry IV performed when he went to a castle where the Pope, who excommunicated him, was a guest.
Another one would be " Franzia o Spagna, purché se magna" (France or Spain, as long as we have something to eat), referring to the shifting allegiances of Italian preunitary states trying to juggle between those two powers fight for european supremacy in the early modern era, and referring now to a lax sense of loyalty as long as basic needs are provided.
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Go to Canossa is not unique to Italian, we say that in Hungarian too.
Not sure if this is what OP is after, but the Finnish proverb ‘kevät keikkuen tulevi’ = ‘Spring arrives swinging and swaying” comes from times of famine, where people who had suffered crop losses were teetering at the border of starving to death and were very weak by the time spring arrived, as they simply hadn’t been able to fill their storages with enough food during the previous summer and autumn.
Finland’s most popular (there was a query on this) saying is ‘Eteenpäin, sanoi mummo lumessa’ = ‘Forwards, said the granny knee-deep in snow’.
In Germany we have „Gang nach Canossa“ too….same origin.
We say anno Leipzig einundleipzig (Leipzig Leipzig and one) which is difficult to translate using the name of the city of Leipzig as a replacement for a year. It means „a long time ago“.
It’s a kind of mixed history though. Leipzig from the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig 1813. But it also refers to the german french war of 1870/71 which led to the founding of the german empire.
Le roi est mort. Vive le roi!
I’m hot sure if your example is authenticiteit Italian. I hear it from all (even late) kingdoms.
A saying in the Netherlands: “In gelul kan je niet wonen”, you can’t live in bullshit / Non puoi vivere nella merda.
This is said to a politician who is talking bullshit about something, to hide that he’s done nothing about it. Originally used in a debate about housing for the masses.
Our version of speaking of the devil is: hablando del Rey de Roma (speaking of the King of Rome) referring to the Pope.
“Røven af fjerde division” (the ass of the 4th division). It isn’t all that common common, but it can be used to describe someone or something that is completely useless or someone who comes late to something.
The 4th division was tasked with drawing the Austro-Prussian forces away from Dybbøl and Frederecia in the war of 1864 and didn’t aid in the battles fought there. So, people started saying that all the enemy ever saw of the 4th was their backside, making them late and useless
“Que salga el sol por Antequera” referring to doing something against all the odds.
“Irse por los cerros de Úbeda” meaning to not go to the point.
“Más huevos que el caballo de Espartero.” I think this one is because of its statue.
In Catalonia, although mostly in disuse nowadays, calling the toilet “Cal Felip” in reference to Felipe V
Beyond the classical references we share with most European languages (‘crossing the Rubicon’, a ‘Pyrrhic victory’, etc.) there are a few specifically English ones:
– Bob’s your uncle: an exclamation said when something is very easy. From the appointment of Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland by his uncle, Lord Robert (Bob) Salisbury in 1887.
– To carry coals to Newcastle: to do something pointless. Newcastle was the centre of the UK’s coal industry, and in the 17th century this expression arose. There was no point in trying to sell coal profitably in Newcastle because there was so much of it being mined.
– Shipshape and Bristol fashion: very tidy or well-organised. Probably from Bristol’s reputation in the 19th century as the best Atlantic port in the UK, the idea being that something done “Bristol fashion” was done very well.
– To send someone to Coventry: to ostracise or ignore someone. Coventry is a city in the West Midlands but no-one is sure exactly why it obtained this meaning in the 18th century. It may be because there was a famously isolated prison there during the English Civil War; if you were sent there, no-one would be speaking to you.
– To go doolally: to go mad. Probably from the name of a British Army camp in India at Deolali where soldiers waited for months for ships going back to the UK. The camp had famously poor conditions which apparently caused soldiers to go crazy.
* **You are not at the Ritz!** – the Ritz is a hotel in Piccadilly (London) which has made a name for the excellence of its cooking and accommodation. When servicemen complained about the bad cooking in the army during World War II, they were often told that there was a war on and that they were not ‘at the Ritz’.
* **off to Gretna Green** – couples who were under age (in English law) would run away together to get mar- ried at Gretna Green, a small town on the English-Scottish border. The con- ditions for marrying under Scottish law being less strict than under English, this was a favourite device for couples who had not obtained the consent of their parents.
* **”It’s like Blackpool illuminations in here”** is a saying, particularly common in the UK, especially in the north of England. It’s often used when someone leaves too many lights on in a room, suggesting the room is excessively bright, like the Blackpool Illuminations display.
Most countries will have sayings based on places that will have no foreign relevance. “To lie before Pampus” means to be dead tired, immobile. A reference to a tidal sandbank off the harbor of Amsterdam.
“Fighting the Beer Quay”, an unwinnable fight/task. Because the loaders there were tough and strong.
Those were Golden Age. A later one, from the Victorian era, is “Steenkolenengels”, Coal English, which refers to speaking bad English because that’s what the longshoremen spoke with English steamboat crews.
*För allt smör i Småland* (“For all the butter in [Småland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sm%C3%A5land)”) is an idiom akin to “for all the money in the world”, typically used in a negative sense like “I won’t do it for all the money in the world” or whatnot.
After the Black Death there was a severe shortage of manpower, so a lot of labor intensive crop farming in Sweden shifted to animal husbandry and often dairy farming. Butter soon joined iron and copper to become one of Sweden’s top exports, and some real valuable stuff. Within Sweden, Småland in particular stood out with a reputation for butter production. Likely because it never was the best for crop farming, with pretty mediocre rocky soil littered with immovable stones that impede the harvesting of grain. In Småland butter was used as a form of tax payment, filling the national treasury after the later export southward on the continent.
*Smör* (butter) and *Småland* are of course also alliterative in Swedish, which surely may have helped adoption of the expression.
“Beyond the pale.” It refers to an area under English control and specifically to the region around Dublin. To be “beyond the pale” meant to be outside the bounds of acceptable behavior or civilized society.
“Ad Pommern til” (to Pomerania) used to describe something failed or in a terrible state.
Referring to King Erik of Pomerania who ruled the Kalmar Union. He was a terrible king disliked by commoners and nobility alike. When the council of the realm refused to accept his choice for an heir, he left for Gotland and took up piracy. After spending 10 years on Gotland, disrupting the merchant trade in the Baltic, he eventually returned home to Pomerania where he lived out the rest of his days.
There once was a ship called La Sartine, which tried to enter the harbor of Marseille but blocked it because it was damaged after a battle. Over the years, the name “La Sartine” became “la sardine”, and since people from Marseille are stereotyped as always exagerating, when someone tells something outlandish, you can say “and what about the sardine that blocked the Marseille Harbor?”
When someone snitches, you can chide them by saying “I wouldn’t want to be your neighbor in 1940”, meaning they would have snitched on Résistance agents or Jewish people once France was occupied.
When someone keeps the lights on when leaving a room, you can tell them “It’s not Versailles here!”, referencing the decadence of the Palace of Versailles.
A bit less used today, but you can say “it’s the Bérézina!” when something goes horribly wrong. Bérézina was a battle in which Napoléon won the battle but at such a high cost that he later lost the invasion of Russia.
– *Obras de Santa Engrácia* (“The construction of Santa Engrácia”) – Used to refer to things that are unfinished and/or are taking too long, this because the Church of Santa Engrácia (now the National Pantheon) took forever to be built.
– *À grande e à francesa* (“Big and French”) – Used to refer to something extravagant or pompous. It’s origin lies from when Portugal was invaded by France during the Napoleonic Wars and how luxurious/ostentatious General Junot and his officials were.
– *Ficar a ver navios* (“Staying watching ships”). Waiting for something to happen but which likely wont. The origin of this expression is unclear but it’s theorized that it’s from the Portuguese waiting for King Sebastian to return from battle (which he never did). It’s also said that King Sebastian will return on a misty morning during a time of great need.
Obrona Częstochowy – desperate defense of something, especially used for football when someone is playing full haram-ball.
In Polish when someone asks you “when?” you can answer with a saying that can be roughtly translated to “when the Swedes come”. It rhymes in Polish. This is a silly answer, but it’s origin is very interesting.
In XVII century, when Poland was in deep political crisis, we suffered a lot from wars with Sweden. There was a popular opinion in that time, that our nobles have to see an enemy army with their own eyes to finally start to work for the country. In other words – that Polish nobles were only reasonable when it got to late for that, because enemy army is already here and we are unprepared.
German is full of idioms that don’t exactly map to other languages. There’s a sort of humor Germans have when things are mangled in translation, called “English for runaways” (*Englisch für Fortgeschrittene*). Some examples:
* Nobody does me so fast after! (*Keiner macht es mir so schnell nach!*)
* You go me on the cookie! (*Du gehst mir auf den Keks!*)
Other German speakers can add to the list.
Otherwise, my favourite German saying is *Hätte hätte Fahrradkette*, referring to a woulda coulda situation, the bicycle chain there just for rhyming. Kind of the equivalent of saying it’s no use crying over spilled milk.
The term for absolutely ordinary in German is “08/15”, which is the model number of the machine gun Germany used in WW1 and of which Germany produced an awful lot (130’000, more than any other in the war).
“Ein jeder solle nach seiner façon seelig werden.” is a quote of the margrave of Brandenburg and Prussian king Friedrich II., who never learned to speak proper German and is still somewhat frequently used. It means: “Everyone should do what makes them happy.”
“Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist des Talers nicht wert” “He who doesn’t honour the Pfennig isn’t worthy of the Taler.” With Pfennig being the smallest unit of currency and Taler being the largest unit of currency from the middle ages to the introduction of the Reichsmark in the 1870s.
“Több is veszett Mohácsnál” (**More was lost at Mohács**): The 1526 Battle of Mohács led to the partitioning of Hungary between the Ottomans, the Habsburgs and Transylvania, ending Hungarian sovereignty until 1918. The saying means “**this is not that big of a deal**”.
“Nem enged a negyvennyolcból” (**Does not let go of ’48**): The 1848 revolution was at first successful in Hungary, and its principles became law. However, later on, the revolution was crushed by the Habsburgs, and the laws were reversed. When Franz Joseph later attempted consolidation, the Hungarian leaders stuck to the demands of 1848. Thus, this saying means “**sticks to their principles**”.
“Nem hajt a tatár” (**The Tatar (Mongol) is not chasing you**): The Mongols invaded Hungary in 1241, and gave plenty of reasons for fleeing – they plundered the entire country, massacring half of its population. The saying means “**you don’t need to hurry**”.
W razie Niemców – literally “in case of the Germans” (xD), and it means “if anything (bad) happens”
Wyjść jak/przejechać się jak Zabłocki na mydle – literally “fail/end up like Zabłocki with soap” it means to do something risky and fail.
not sure if examples answer your question? some people mentioned idioms, and i pretty much don’t know any xd
“Miałeś Chamie Złoty Róg” or “You had Golden Horn, peasant/commoner”
It means to waste an occasion and is inspired by poem, in wich a commoner received golden horn to signal an uprising, but he overslept and tyrant’s agents quelled the rebellion before it started. IIRC, the exact phrase was used in the poem.
“Wyskoczyć jak Filio z konopii” or “to jump out like a Philipp from tall grass”.
Means to appear suddenly. Some time ago, in Polish, some animals had names assigned, for example, hares were called Phillips.
“Iść od sasa do lasa” or “go by sas to forrest”.
It means to stray from somewhere, or rebel. To ‘go by sas’ originally described how dogs followed their master by walking right next to them.
In Germany we’ve got the verb “magdeburgisieren” (literally translated: “to magdeburgize”), which means “to annihilate” or “to destroy completely”. However, the term is no longer used very often these days. It refers to the complete devastation of the protestant city of Magdeburg by imperial troops during the Thirty Years’ War in 1631. Over 20.000 of the originally 35.000 citizens were killed during the massacre. Most of the surviving citizens fled after the devastation, leaving the city almost empty. This led to a significant loss of importance for the city, which had been one of the most important cities in the whole of Germany before the start of the war.
In Czech:
“Dopadli jak sedláci u Chlumce” – (they ended up like the peasants at Chlumec) = to lose squarely. Named after battle of the peasant rebellion which was squashed by royal forces by the town of Chlumec.
“Velký jako Brno” – (as big as Brno) a sarcastic expression when something is presented as big (and is really not). Originated after 1919 when the city of Brno assimilated all neighbouring villages into a single municipality, which was denoted in the maps as “Velké Brno” (Greater Brno).
“Jezdíš jak Širón” (you drive like Chiron) = you drive very fast. Popularised after the favourite racing driver in the Czechoslovak Republic Grand Prix, the Frenchman Chiron.
“Rome does not pay traitors”. Rewarding a traitor like he deserves. What the Romans said to Viriathus’s generals after they murdered him in his sleep and came for a reward.
“To want the gold and the Moor”. Having your cake and eating it too. In the Reconquista Moors captured in battle were traded for ransom or sold as slaves. But you couldn’t keep them afterward obviously. It is much, much less common than “To be at mass and ringing the bell (too)” with the same meaning, though.
There are many more sayings of course but these are two that have non corresponding idioms in English.
One that I’ve found out in Reddit we share with the Portuguese (well, they say East instead) is «De ponent, ni vent, ni gent, ni casament». From the West, neither wind, nor people, nor marriage. As you can guess, our relations with Castille have never been good.
In French, there is this literary and elegant phrase: *travailler pour le Roi de Prusse*, ie “to work for the king of Prussia”, which mean to work a lot for a very disappointing reward or salary. There are two hypotheses to its origin: 1) Frederick II was said to take a hard stance on managing the country’s finance, in particular for salaries of his soldiers 2) Prussia was an ally of France during the War of the Austrian Succession, but there was a sentiment among the French leadership that France had fought hard and made no gains in the end, on the contrary of Prussia, who expanded its territory.
An Italian colleague of mine was suprised that there is this saying in French that comes from Roman history: *les délices de Capoue,* ie the fine pleasures from Capua. This comes from the period of the Punic Wars: Hannibal was about to defeat roman armies on their own soil, but chose to make a long pause for resting his army in the charming city of Capua. He then overstayed, lost the initiative, his army lost their “fighting spirit” because they enjoyed everyhting the city had to offer, and in the end the Roman army had time to regroup and regain power to kick Hannibal out of Italy. Nowadays, *les délices de Capoue* refers to a situation where you are so comfortable and so pampered that you lose your objectives out of sight. In Belgium, there is even a chain of ice cream stores named “Capoue”, because this place name eqautes with something delicious. That kind of amused my Italian colleague, because for him Capua is nowadays a very common city.
*C’est la Berezina* is a weird one. The Berezina is a river in Bielorussia, where Napoleon’s army avoided a severe defeat and outsmarted the Russian army when retreating from Russia. The weird thing is that, even though it was a tactical victory for France, it turned into a negative expression, probably because it was close to losing another battle in an unsuccessfull military campaign. *C’est la Berezina* means nowadays “it’s a total disaster”.
*Aller à Canossa* is rare but is also used just like the example you mentioned in Italian.
In Belgian French, we often say “*compromis à la Belge’,* ie “Belgian-style compromise”, a pragmatic compromise that everyone will accept, but that no one is really 100% happy with. This phrase comes directly from local politics: Belgian governments are always built on coalitions, and that implies to make compromises where every party can claim they had what they wanted – but no one will admit they had also to make concessions.
Another one particular to Belgium – and hear me out, I know this one can be shocking to foreigners. You can sometimes hear or read *tout ça ne rendra pas le Congo,* meaning “this won’t bring us back Congo”. Belgians are nowadays very much aware of all the atrocities Belgium did in Congo, so this has to be understood as a very ironic statement. No one wants to actually have Congo back as a Belgian colony (except maybe some lunatics), this is meant to mock some nostalgic statements some people could make in the 1960s when Congo became independent. This phrase is used nowadays to make a pessimistic but detached conclusion when discussing local politics, it means something like “all this fuss and meaningless political disputes won’t help Belgium to move forward”.
We have a saying that says “To end up like the peasants near Chlumec”.
It means something like *utterly defeated*.
In 18th century; there was a peasant revolt which culminated in a battle near the city of Chlumec, and the revolt was defeated.
Hence the saying “dopadli jako sedláci u Chlumce”.