How did this phrase originate grammatically? I’m especially interested in the fragment “for the trees”.
See http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/see_the_forest_for_the_trees for its definition.
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Sign up to join this communityHow did this phrase originate grammatically? I’m especially interested in the fragment “for the trees”.
See http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/see_the_forest_for_the_trees for its definition.
In English, this saying goes back at least to the 16th century:
1546 J. HEYWOOD Prov. II. iv. (1867) 51 Plentie is nodeintie, ye see not your owne ease. I see, ye can not see the wood for trees. —Oxford English Dictionary
This is for in the sense of “on account of”, “because of”, which goes back as far as Old English. (“for”, Online Etymology Dictionary)
You can read the saying as:
Cannot see the forest because of the trees.
This idiom is ambiguous for the "for"... (cough cough)
If "for" means "because of", then the trees, aka details, ironically muddle the overall picture of the forest, aka the main idea.
However, if for means "in place of; instead of", then it's similar to the idiom "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." So, you can't see the forest on behalf of the trees.
In other words, you can't comprehend a problem on behalf of the ones who are part of that problem.