"Sour grapes" - what does it mean? Where did it come from? | Pleasantries from Victory Wine

We have all heard the expression - SOUR GRAPES? It has developed steam of its own and has varying meanings and usages. For the athletes out there, we think of it in terms of being a "sore loser". Like "stop the sour grapes" and "show some class". It is so commonplace that we thought we delve a little deeper into it and then bring back to the glass for ce soir! 

ORIGIN 

In the fable The Fox and the Grapes, that Aesop, a legendary Greek writer, the fox cannot to reach the grapes and declares them to be sour:

Harrison Weir's 1884 English translation, which claims to be "from original sources ", presents the text like this:

A famished Fox saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised vine. She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for she could not reach them. At last she turned away, beguiling herself of her disappointment, and saying: "The Grapes are sour, and not ripe as I thought."

BUT ALSO IN THE BIBLE 

Yes, there are some interesting references in the bible with a naturally different spelling: 

Some of the fables associated with Aesop were written as late as 1900 and many of the earlier ones were considerably amended in Victorian translation into English. Also, some scholars also prefer 'unripe' to 'sour' as a literal translation of the earlier Greek texts.

The phrase also occurs in the Bible, Ezekiel - in Miles Coverdale's Bible, 1535:

18:1 The worde of the LORDE came vnto me, on this maner:

18:2 What meane ye by this comon prouerbe, that ye vse in the londe of Israel, sayenge: The fathers haue eaten soure grapes, and the childres teth are set on edge?

18:3 As truly as I lyue, saieth ye LORDE God, ye shal vse this byworde nomore in Israel.

The biblical version of the expression doesn't match the meaning as the Aesop's Fables version does and, although it may well be an older citation of the two words 'sour' and 'grapes', it appears that the latter is the source of the phrase. What we can't say for definite is what date it entered the English language.

  

ONLY GRAPES THAT ARE PICKED WHEN THEY ARE OPTIMALLY RIPE HERE 

So whether you a "sour" or "sweet" kind of person, you can select these wines and know that the grapes are picked with precision at the correct time for consuming pleasure. 

Sip with confidence. 

 

 

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published