[Mlller]

When Alcuin writes “Nec audiendi qui solent dicere” ‘And those people should not be listened to who keep saying’, he implies “sunt qui solent dicere” ‘there are those who keep saying’ and that the affirmative use of the proverb is older than his criticism. His letter, alas, seems to be the oldest still existing source of this formulation. Similar thoughts expressed earlier are quoted by Büchmann ²⁰1900 p. 353:

- Hesiod ‘Works and Days’ v. 763–764: “Φήμη δʼ οὔτις πάμπαν ἀπόλλυται, ἥντινα πολλοὶ | Λαοὶ φημίζουσι. θεός νύ τίς ἐστι καὶ αὐτή.” ‘No rumour will perish completely which is rumoured by so many people. A kind of god indeed is also this [= the rumour].’

- Seneca (the older) ‘Controversies’ I.1.10: “Crede mihi, sacra populi lingua est.” ‘Believe me, sacred is the language [≈ speech?] of the people.’