Meaning & Analysis
The phrase is entirely figurative; there is no actual material known as 'running leather.' It describes a person's character by attributing a quality of constant motion to their footwear.
Insights
Inherent Wanderlust
The primary meaning is that the individual is inherently restless and possesses a powerful urge to travel or wander, making them unable to stay in one place for long.
Unreliability and Inconstancy
A person who is always 'running' is seen as inconstant, flighty, and undependable. The proverb suggests they cannot be relied upon to fulfill commitments or maintain stable relationships.
Evasion of Responsibility
The act of 'running' can also imply an avoidance of responsibility, difficulty, or personal ties. The shoes are thus instruments of evasion, characterizing the wearer as someone who flees when faced with obligations.
Symbolism of Footwear
The proverb taps into the symbolic power of shoes as representations of one's life path. 'Running leather' is a fictional, symbolic material that defines the wearer's journey as one of perpetual motion, contrasting with the sturdy, grounded footwear of a settled individual.
Psychological Restlessness
From a psychological perspective, the phrase vividly captures an internal state of restlessness, which could be driven by anxiety, a fear of commitment, or an insatiable desire for novelty. It externalizes an inner compulsion into a tangible, albeit metaphorical, object.
Cultural Judgment
In the 16th and 17th centuries, stability and rootedness were strong social virtues. The proverb carries a pejorative undertone, labeling an individual as unreliable, flighty, and outside the norms of a settled, dependable community member.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The core of the proverb is the metaphor of 'running leather,' a fictional material that powerfully conveys the abstract concept of restlessness in a concrete, memorable image.
Personification
The shoes are imbued with the human characteristic of 'running,' as if the objects themselves possess the wearer's restless spirit. This personification makes the trait seem innate and inescapable.
Idiom
The phrase is a classic idiom, where the overall meaning is figurative and cannot be understood from the literal definitions of the individual words.
Transcription
Quotations
My minde could never rest at hoem, My shoes wear maed of running leather suer.
He shall forfeit a Gallon of wine, and be counted a Colt as long as his shooes are made of running lether.
Straying, raunging . . wandering vp and downe, whose shooes are made of running leather.
(His shooes be made).
(His shooes be made).
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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