‘Everyone is a Master in his own Way’: Master, Skill, Craft in Paroemias

Abstract

The paper examines a thematic group of proverbs and sayings about the master, skill, craft, material, tools, and products of the master in Russian and non-ethnic material. It also involves, for comparison, the material of riddles of a similar subject. The study reveals the main traditional ideas about the master and mastery, similar in various ethno-cultural traditions and relevant to this day: mastery should bring income; any craft is necessary; each person is a master in his own realm; craft requires specialization; mastery is determined by trained students; a real master does not give advice to another, etc. The variants and ethnic versions of the paroemias often highlight specific, often contradictory nuances of these ideas. In the paroemias, we are talking primarily about artisans and people engaged in household works. Mastery is associated primarily with manual labor, less often in the Russian tradition, it relates to creative people. The paroemias confirm the blacksmith's special status in mythology, history and culture. In addition to didactic, informative, prescriptive functions, the analyzed paroemias also perform emotive one. Riddles of similar subjects associate the human with the natural, thereby affirming the natural source of human skill and the skill of Mother Nature herself.