Proverbs

[darkerhorse]

I have some questions about two proverbs.

1. “Cu ama a Diu di cori, felici campa e felici mori.”
He who loves God with all his heart lives happily and dies happily.

2. "Cui sputa 'n celu, 'n facci cci torna."
If you spit in the air it will hit you in the face.

I know these as Sicilian proverbs, but are they general proverbs, used in other regions of Italy, too?

Does the second proverb just mean "what comes around, goes around", or is there a deeper meaning referring to heaven or God (spitting in the sky) perhaps a warning about sinning?

[PippoM]

We have #2 in our area, near Naples: "Nun sputa' 'n cielo, che 'n faccia te vene"
I think the meaning is the only the immediate one.

[darkerhorse]

Is spit up in the sky a better translation than spit in the air?

[PippoM]

My limited knowledge of English can't make me sure of that, however, it sounds best.
Literally, the correct translation would be "in the sky" (sky=cielo); on the other hand, if you spit "in the air", might you be spitting in front of yourself? If you spit up above you (towards the sky), you'll be sure that it will fall down onto you again!

[darkerhorse]

That's what I was thinking. It makes the most sense in English too.

[MarcuccioV]

What goes up, must come down. Including spittle...

The Jim Croce song "You don't mess around with Jim" includes the line "you don't spit into the wind", which could be an alternate form of the same phrase (Jim Croce was Sicilian). I could see where such an old-world idiom could be the basis for such a lyric.

The basic translation (as I understand it) would be "don't do anything futile or pointless"...

[hilis1986]

It can be translated as "If you spit in the air, it will hit you in the face." This proverb carries a similar meaning to the English proverb "What goes around, comes around."

[cuhnkedrik]

Even though I can't be 100% sure of it due to my English skills, I think that's the greatest option.
Although "in the air" could mean "in front of yourself," the literal translation of "in the sky" (cielo) is "in the sky." Spitting upwards (towards the sky) guarantees that it will return to you.