gutta cavat lapidem

== Latin == === Etymology === Literally, “the water drop bores through the rock”. Perhaps a loose calque of Ancient Greek πέτρην κοιλαίνει ῥανὶς ὕδατος ἐνδελεχείῃ (pétrēn koilaínei rhanìs húdatos endelekheíēi), a verse by fifth-century-BCE poet Choerilus of Samos. Though the exact quoted words are first found in Ovid, the idea appears twice in Lucretius already: === Proverb === gutta cavat lapidem (idiomatic) little strokes fell great oaks, slow and steady wins the race ==== Descendants ==== → German: steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein (calque) → Polish: kropla drąży skałę (calque) → Portuguese: água mole em pedra dura tanto bate até que fura (calque) → Russian: ка́пля ка́мень то́чит (káplja kámenʹ tóčit) (calque) === References === gutta cavat lapidem in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana === Further reading === gutta cavat lapidem on the Italian Wikipedia.Wikipedia it