https://www.medievalists.net/2024/06/chaucers-medieval-expressions/
Indeedeth....
Of course, Chaucer cannot claim originality in all these sayings - a number of them make reference to what is written in "the Book", ie Bible, which is also the source of much other wisdom including "As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly."
Good find, Dave. I am sure many wargamers can identify with several of the phrases.
One wonders what Chaucer might have made of more modern aphorisms, such as "His embrace was like a rancid shower curtain"?
???
Nick does have a point that Chaucer may have originated these in English but was using classical and biblical originals at times. We had a bit of fun on the family WhatsApp trying to get folks to guess what well known phrase or saying they were looking at.
I love this kind of thing it has to be said