Expert: Maria - 11/13/2007

Question
The following phrase was in a judge's ruling, but he did not translate it: Ad praesens ova cras pullis (o faxi) sunt meliora. Could you please translate it for me?

Thank you very much

Answer
Hello,

The Latin saying “Ad praesens ova cras pullis sunt meliora” means:
“Eggs today are better than chickens tomorrow “
which is the equivalent of the English proverb “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:
-Ad praesens = today
-ova = eggs
-cras = tomorrow
-pullis (ablative of comparison) = than chickens
-sunt = are
-meliora = better

I think that the judge you mention has read this Latin proverb in “Gargantua and Pantagruel", book 3, chapter XLII, where François Rabelais (1494-1553),French writer and priest, talks about “How suits at law are bred at first, and how they come afterwards to their perfect growth”.