One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer
A swallow is a migratory bird, and to swallow is to send food down. The proverb about a single swallow is over two thousand years old.
A swallow is a fast-flying migratory bird, and *to swallow* is to move food from mouth to stomach. The two are unrelated words that fell together. The bird gave English one of its oldest borrowed proverbs: *one swallow does not make a summer*, which appears in Aristotle and means one piece of evidence proves nothing.
- A migratory bird. *Swallows return in April.*
- To send food down the throat. *Swallow the tablet.*
- To accept something doubtful. *He swallowed the story.*
- To suppress. *Swallow your pride.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | swallow | A barn swallow. |
| Plural | swallows | Nesting swallows. |
| Verb | swallow | Swallow hard. |
| Past | swallowed | Swallowed whole. |
| Related | swift | A screaming swift. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Swallows nest in the barn each year.They return to the same site.
- One swallow does not make a summer.From Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
- He had to swallow his pride.Suppress it.
Swallows, swifts and martins
- Swallow — long forked tail, red throat, perches readily
- House martin — white rump, builds mud nests under eaves
- Sand martin — nests in burrows in banks
- Swift — not related; almost never lands, sleeps on the wing
- Migration — European swallows winter in southern Africa
The bird is Old English *swealwe*; the verb is Old English *swelgan*. They are separate words that converged in sound and spelling.
Are swifts and swallows related?
No. They look similar because both catch insects in flight, but swifts are more closely related to hummingbirds.
Where does the proverb come from?
From Aristotle, who used it in the Nicomachean Ethics to argue that a single good day does not make a person happy.