Jumping from the frying pan into the fire
Encyclopedia
Jumping from the frying pan into the fire is an idiom with the general meaning of escaping a bad situation for a worse. It was made the subject of a 15th century fable that eventually entered the Aesopic canon.
wrote a collection of 100 fables, the Hecatomythium, during the 1490s. This included some based on popular idioms and proverbs of the day, of which Still Waters Run Deep
is another example. A previous instance of such adaptation was Phaedrus, who had done much the same to the proverb about The Mountain in Labour
. Abstemius' fable 20, De piscibus e sartigine in prunas desilentibus, concerns some fish thrown live into a frying pan of boiling fat. One of them urges its fellows to save their lives by jumping out, but when they do so they fall into the burning coals and curse its bad advice. The fabulist concludes: 'This fable warns us that when we are avoiding present dangers, we should not fall into even worse peril.' The tale was included in Latin collections of Aesop's fables from the following century onwards but the first person to adapt it into English was Roger L'Estrange
in 1692. He was followed shortly after by the anonymous author of Aesop at Oxford, in whose fable "Worse and Worse" the fish jump 'Out of the Frying-Pan, into the Fire' by a collective decision. The moral it illustrates is drawn from a contemporary episode in Polish politics.
There are several similar European idioms that derive ultimately from a Greek saying about running from the fire into the flame, the first recorded use of which was in a poem by Germanicus Ceasar (15 BCE-19 CE) in the Greek Anthology
. There it is applied to a hare that attempts to escape from a dog by jumping into the sea, only to be seized by a 'sea-dog'. The Latin equivalent was the seafaring idiom
'He runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis' (incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim). The earliest recorded use of the English idiom was by Thomas More
in the course of a pamphlet war with William Tyndale
. In The Confutacyon of Tyndales Answere (1532) More asserted that his adversary 'featly conuayed himself out of the frying panne fayre into the fyre.'
The story and its use
The Italian author Laurentius AbstemiusLaurentius Abstemius
Laurentius Abstemius was an Italian writer, professor of Belles Lettres at Urbino, and librarian to Duke Guido Ubaldo under Pope Alexander VI. Born at Macerata in Ancona, he distinguished himself, at the time of the revival of letters, as a writer of considerable talents...
wrote a collection of 100 fables, the Hecatomythium, during the 1490s. This included some based on popular idioms and proverbs of the day, of which Still Waters Run Deep
Still Waters Run Deep (fable)
Still waters run deep is a proverb of Latin origin now commonly taken to mean that a placid exterior hides a passionate or subtle nature. Formerly it also carried the warning that silent people are dangerous, as in Caesar's summing up of Cassius in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar...
is another example. A previous instance of such adaptation was Phaedrus, who had done much the same to the proverb about The Mountain in Labour
The Mountain in Labour
The Mountain in Labour is one of Aesop's Fables and appears as number 520 in the Perry Index. It was often cited in Classical times and applied to a variety of situations. It refers to speech acts which promise much but deliver little....
. Abstemius' fable 20, De piscibus e sartigine in prunas desilentibus, concerns some fish thrown live into a frying pan of boiling fat. One of them urges its fellows to save their lives by jumping out, but when they do so they fall into the burning coals and curse its bad advice. The fabulist concludes: 'This fable warns us that when we are avoiding present dangers, we should not fall into even worse peril.' The tale was included in Latin collections of Aesop's fables from the following century onwards but the first person to adapt it into English was Roger L'Estrange
Roger L'Estrange
Sir Roger L'Estrange was an English pamphleteer and author, and staunch defender of royalist claims. L'Estrange was involved in political controversy throughout his life...
in 1692. He was followed shortly after by the anonymous author of Aesop at Oxford, in whose fable "Worse and Worse" the fish jump 'Out of the Frying-Pan, into the Fire' by a collective decision. The moral it illustrates is drawn from a contemporary episode in Polish politics.
There are several similar European idioms that derive ultimately from a Greek saying about running from the fire into the flame, the first recorded use of which was in a poem by Germanicus Ceasar (15 BCE-19 CE) in the Greek Anthology
Greek Anthology
The Greek Anthology is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature...
. There it is applied to a hare that attempts to escape from a dog by jumping into the sea, only to be seized by a 'sea-dog'. The Latin equivalent was the seafaring idiom
Scylla and Charybdis
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology. Several other idioms, such as "on the horns of a dilemma", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express the same meaning of "having to choose between two evils".-The myth and...
'He runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis' (incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim). The earliest recorded use of the English idiom was by Thomas More
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More , also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was an important councillor to Henry VIII of England and, for three years toward the end of his life, Lord Chancellor...
in the course of a pamphlet war with William Tyndale
William Tyndale
William Tyndale was an English scholar and translator who became a leading figure in Protestant reformism towards the end of his life. He was influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus, who made the Greek New Testament available in Europe, and by Martin Luther...
. In The Confutacyon of Tyndales Answere (1532) More asserted that his adversary 'featly conuayed himself out of the frying panne fayre into the fyre.'