The Role of Proverbs in Textual Criticism: The Case of Sa'di's Verses

In textual criticism, it is necessary to pay attention to side sources and sometimes books of proverbs. Depending on the content and the main form of the proverbs, the editor can remove some of the ambiguities of the classical texts. Gradually, the use of these proverbs becomes more limited and turn into vague expressions for the scribes so that they may change them. For example, the phrase of "Shomar e khāne be bāzār rāst nemÎayad" (The counting of the house is not acceptable in the Bazar) is an ancient proverb, which means "Not matching a personchr('39')s account at home with what he encounters in the market". This proverb at least has been used in Persian poetry and prose from the 5th century, and in our time, it has been used in Tajik Persian works. Sachr('39')adi has used this proverb in the one of the verses of his Odes, but for the scribes of Saʿdīchr('39')s Divan, it was not a familiar phrase, and hence, in most manuscripts and in all available editions of Divan and Odes, "arz e jame" (length of the clothes) has been distorted to the "arz e khane" (the length of the house). Most of the commentators of Sachr('39')adichr('39')s Odes have trusted the text without paying attention to its transformation and distortion. They have interpreted the verse in such a way that it does not relate to Sachr('39')adichr('39')s thought. In this article, the correct form of the Saʿdīchr('39')s verse has been presented relying on some of the manuscripts of Sachr('39')dichr('39')s Divan and the background and meaning of this proverb.