In English: Each man is king in his own home.
After yesterday's proverb about the king and his followers, I thought this proverb would be a good follow-up. It is especially appropriate since we are in the midst of moving house right now, and in the tyranny of boxes and packing tape, we are unfortunately not feeling very regal at the moment!
There are some nice variants on this Latin saying, such as Domi suae quilibet rex, "At his home, any man at all is king," or Quilibet est tugurii rex, dominusque sui, "Every man is king of his cottage, and master of his own."
There's an interesting Biblical echo, too. Compare the opening verse of 2 Samuel, Chapter 7: Factum est autem cum sedisset rex in domo sua et Dominus dedisset ei requiem undique ab universis inimicis suis, "And it came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies..." The king here is David, and he is about to embark on the building of the temple. The phrase used here, rex in domo sua, provides a great echo for this proverb. David is king of Jerusalem, but each man is likewise king in his own home.
Not surprisingly, there are versions of this saying in many other languages, too. In English, there is the very famous saying, "a man's home is his castle." I also like his variant: "Every groom is king at home."
I was especially delighted by this Polish version: każdy pan na swoich śmieciach, "every man is a lord on his own trash-heap."
Ha! That's a bit how I am feeling in the midst of the chaos that is my house at the moment. I'm going to try to keep up with this blog over the next couple of weeks as we make our way to North Carolina and get moved in, but I should also apologize in advance for any days that I might miss until we are re-settled!
Meanwhile, hoping you are feeling very regal in your house right now, here is today's proverb read out loud:
791. Omnis est rex in domo sua.
The number here is the number for this proverb in Latin Via Proverbs: 4000 Proverbs, Mottoes and Sayings for Students of Latin.
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