English

Noun

proverbiology ‎(uncountable)

1. (rare) The study of proverbs; the collective lore of proverbs.
   • 1880, J. Long, "Proverbs: English and Keltic, with Their Eastern Relations," The Folk-Lore Record, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 59:

     As the English language is best studied by the light thrown on it by comparative philology, and as a knowledge of human anatomy is greatly aided by the discoveries in the comparative anatomy of animals, so must English Proverbiology by assisted by the light reflected from comparative Proverbiology.

   • 1989, R. V. Teschner, "Reviews of A Dictionary of Mexican American Proverbs by Mark Glazer," Hispania, vol. 72, no. 1, p. 150:

     Is the DMAP [Dictionary of Mexican American Proverbs] intended as a comparative Chicano proverbiology?

Derived terms

• proverbiologist

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.