Re: bull and death
Posted: 03 Jan 2013, 14:10
There is an old wide spread saying about being trod on by the black feet of the bull/ox (as widespread as Alabania to wales, more common in Germanic languages than the romance) with a variety of meanings (hardship, sorrow, death, misfortune, the death of one's parents). I don't think the origins of the association can be found, all that can be said is that such an association between bulls/ox and death was well established by the end of the 14th century. There is a latin verse which associates both the black feet of the pale horse and the bull/ox with death:
Mors dicit iuueni:
Cursu quo te gerit equus albus cum pede nigro,
Cursus uanus erit: te sequar cum boue pigro.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_m6m ... &q&f=false
Mors dicit iuueni:
Cursu quo te gerit equus albus cum pede nigro,
Cursus uanus erit: te sequar cum boue pigro.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_m6m ... &q&f=false