Understanding the Origins of the Proverb
Let’s kick things off with a classic pub quiz question: What light object is famously said to be the cause of breaking a camel’s back in the well-known proverb? A straw, right? Think again! Surprisingly, the original proverb didn’t even mention a camel. So, which animal was it, and what lightweight item ultimately caused the collapse?
While phrases like ‘the last straw’, ‘the final straw’, and ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ have become entrenched in everyday language, the original versions of this saying didn’t include straws at all.
The Meaning Behind the Proverb
Let’s first explore the meaning of this proverb. When someone says that something is the straw that broke the camel’s back, they are employing a vivid metaphor to express that if one continues to pile on burdens or challenges, eventually, even a minor additional burden can lead to significant consequences. For instance, an employee overwhelmed with stressful tasks might finally snap under the weight of pressure when a colleague asks for a seemingly simple favor. That small request, when added to their existing load, becomes ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’
Tracing the Origins
Interestingly, the earliest recorded use of this idiom in writing, dating back to the seventeenth century, does not mention either a straw or a camel. In John Bramhall’s Defence of True Liberty of Human Actions (1655), a reference to an animal exists, but it is not a camel. Moreover, there’s no mention of a straw:
It is the last feather may be said to break an Horses back.
In this initial iteration, it was the last feather, not straw, that broke a horse’s back.
Evolution of the Phrase
By the late eighteenth century, as noted in The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, the horse had been replaced by the now-familiar camel. In the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts (1793), a writer remarked that ‘it is certainly true that the last feather will sink the camel.’ Clearly, the feather had not yet been overshadowed by the straw.
It wasn’t until the mid-nineteenth century that the phrase began to take its current form. In 1846, Charles Dickens utilized the idiom in his somewhat underappreciated novel Dombey and Son:
As the last straw breaks the laden camel’s back, this piece of underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombey.
This novel, while often overlooked in Dickens’s body of work, features a wealth of rich characters and themes, and it is a shame that it has not received more adaptations, aside from a BBC version in 1983.
Variations and Interpretations
The term ‘the last straw’ emerged as a truncated version of the original idiom in the 1840s. In this form, ‘straw’ stands alone, and the significance of a ‘final’ or ‘last’ straw must be inferred from our broader understanding of similar proverbs. However, even in its common usage, the proverb is a slightly abbreviated version, as the word ‘last’ is often omitted, making it simply ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back.’
It’s important to note that the idiom is meant to be metaphorical; the very idea of something as insubstantial as a straw leading to the downfall of a sturdy camel seems almost absurd. The power of this proverb lies in the stark contrast between the lightness of a straw (or feather) and the weighty strength of the camel (or horse).
Why did straws eventually replace feathers? Perhaps it is because straw, which can be gathered in bundles, is more logical as a burden for a beast of burden than feathers. Nonetheless, the reasons behind such linguistic shifts are often elusive.