Lupus in fabula, Speak of the devil, Mi o vuku...
–
these are all same phrases, and we use it as a reference to someone who appears
unexpectedly while being talked about.
Although its definitely much older, first recorded
version of that idiom is from 17th century.
In the past this proverb had different meaning. It was
part of superstitious belief that it was dangerous to mention something evil by
its name (whatever that evil was; different countries had different representations
of it), because that evil (devil, wolf...) may actually appear. As if the power
of saying their name out loud will summon them.
It's interesting to see how meaning of the phrase has changed over the years (now people say it when someone who were they gossiping about walks through the door, and to see how all the seriousness has been drained out of it - even Ozzy Osbourne named one of his albums "Talk of the devil"), and also how different cultures had different objects of fear.
These are couple versions of the phrase in different languages:
- Palestinian Arabic: "ابن الحلال" (ibin Al halal), which translates to "the offspring of good". To say that once the person was mentioned, that person showed up.
- Armenian: "Շունը յիշէ, փայտը քաշէ:", which translates to "Remember the dog, prepare the cane."
- Bulgarian: "Говорим за вълка, а той - в кошарата", translated as "Speak of the wolf and it is in the sheep pen."
- Catalan: "No es pot dir mal que no surti l'animal", meaning "You can't speak evil [of someone] without the animal turning up".
- Cantonese Chinese:日頭唔好講人，夜晚唔好講鬼, translated as "Don't gossip other people in daytime, nor ghost at night (, or they will show up)."
- Hebrew: "מדברים על החמור, והנה הוא בא", "M'dabrim 'al ha-khamor, ve-hinei hu ba" - "Talking about the donkey, and here it comes". Typically shortened to just "M'dabrim 'al ha-khamor..."
- Serbian: "Ми о вуку, (вук на врата)", (Mi o vuku, vuk na vrata) translated as "Speak of the wolf (and the wolf [is] at the door)."
- Urdu: "Shaitan ka naam liya or Shaitaan hazir", which translates to "take the name of Satan and Satan appears."
- Yiddish: "A shod m'hot nisht geredt fun moshiach" which translates to "We should have talked about the Messiah,"
This is my short video presentation on this subject:
