kígyót melenget a keblén

Hungarian

Etymology

From Aesop's fable The Farmer and the Viper. Literally, “to keep warm a snake on one's bosom”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkiːɟoːt ˈmɛlɛŋɡɛt ɒ ˈkɛbleːn]

Verb

kígyót melenget a keblén

1. (idiomatic) to nourish a viper in one's bosom, to cherish a snake in one's bosom (to patronize and support a person who pays for goodness with evil)

Conjugation

• For the verb, see melenget (“to keep warm”).
• The accusative noun kígyót (“snake”) remains unchanged.
• The noun kebel (“bosom”) takes the appropriate possessive suffix according to the logical subject of the sentence plus the superessive suffix: keblemen (“on my bosom”), kebleden (“on your bosom”), keblén (“on his/her/its bosom”), keblünkön (“on our bosom”), kebleteken (“on your bosom”), keblükön (“on their bosom”).