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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Out of Africa
Authors:Feinberg, Harvey M.ISNI
Solodow, Joseph B.ISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:The Journal of African History
Volume:43
Issue:2
Period:July
Pages:255-261
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:proverbs
prehistory
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100508
Abstract:This article traces the origins of the familiar quotation, 'there is always something new coming out of Africa' and reveals what it meant in its original context. It demonstrates that the phrase was a proverb that originated in Greece no later than the fourth century BC. It charts the transmission of the phrase from Aristotle to the 20th century, noting that Erasmus is the most important link in the Renaissance and that he may be responsible for the current form in which the phrase is used. The article also shows that the meaning of the phrase was very different in ancient times from what it is today. Whereas 'something new' to the ancient Greeks referred specifically to strange hybrid animals, current writers use the phrase in a general and invariably positive sense. Notes, ref., sum.
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