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Definition 2024

margur_verður_af_aurum_api

margur verður af aurum api

Icelandic

Proverb

margur verður af aurum api

  1. possession of money or worldly goods can make fools out of people

References

  1. 1 2 Icelandic Web of Science: Í Hávamálum er sagt að margur verði af aurum api. Hefur höfundurinn vitað hvað api var? (“It is written in Hávamál that money makes monkeys out of men. Did the author actually know of monkeys?”)
  2. ↑
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  4. ↑ ; The Elder or Poetic Edda, edited and translated by Olive Bray (London: Printed for the Viking Club, 1908), pages 61-111
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Etymology

From margur ‎(“many a man”) + verður ‎(“becomes”), the third person singular of verða ‎(“to become”) + af ‎(“by, from”) + aurum, form of aur ‎(“money”) + api ‎(“monkey, ape”). Literally meaning "many become a monkey from money" or "money makes monkeys out of men".[1]

The proverb is a reference to (quotation of) the seventh-fifth verse of the Hávamál, one of the books of the Poetic Edda.

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