- English translation
Only forty days separate one seed from the next.
- Literal wording
Between one seed and the next are forty days.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pictures a seed being planted and producing a crop with fresh seeds forty days later. The two seeds mark the beginning and completion of a growing cycle, making the interval between them seem brief.
Its point is to present a stretch of time as short or near at hand. The forty days belong to that image of quick renewal; the saying is not primarily an instruction to wait or a guarantee about crop growth.
- When it is used
Use it when presenting an interval as relatively short, or suggesting that an approaching time is not far away. Its emphasis is on the nearness of that time, rather than on urging patience or warning against haste.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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