米德佳英文編修校對 & 中翻英的部落格

有備無患；凡事豫則立

“Before you meet Kate, I should tell you that she’s a little eccentric. Forewarned is forearmed, right?"

“Check the temperature before you go outside. Forewarned is forearmed."

Many idioms that have no obvious source are often referred to, for no good reason, as ‘old proverbs’. ‘Forewarned is forearmed’ has a genuine claim to be called such, as it dates from at least the end of the 16th century, and could be much earlier. The Latin saying ‘praemonitus, praemunitus’ loosely translates as ‘forewarned is forearmed’. There’s no evidence to show that the English proverb is merely a translation of the Latin though. The two sayings could easily have originated independently.