What it means
ضربالمثل (zarbolmasal) is the Persian word for proverb, the category term. When you want to introduce a saying with its frame visible, you say یک ضربالمثل قدیمی هست که میگه (yek zarbolmasal-e qadimi hast ke mige, there is an old proverb that says). The word itself does not name any one proverb; it names the genre.
Persian is dense with proverbs. مرغ همسایه غازه (morgh-e hamsayeh ghaze, the neighbor’s chicken is a goose, meaning the grass is always greener), از این ستون به اون ستون فرج است (az in sotun be un sotun faraj ast, from this pillar to that pillar there is relief, meaning give it time), دیگ به دیگ میگه روت سیاه (dig be dig mige ruyat siyah, one pot tells another your face is black, meaning the pot calling the kettle black). The literature of proverbs is endless. Each is a zarbolmasal.
Why the meta-term matters
You can read Hafez without ever using the word ghazal; you absorb the form by exposure. But once you want to discuss the form, the genre name becomes load-bearing. Zarbolmasal lets you talk about Persian proverbial wisdom as an object: collect them, compare them across regions, trace their migration into modern speech. The word opens the door to analytical reading.
How to use it
in ye zarbolmasal-e qadimi-ye irani-st.
This is an old Iranian proverb.
این یک ضربالمثل قدیمی ایرانی است.
madarbozorgam hamishe ba zarbolmasal harf mizad.
My grandmother always spoke with proverbs.
مادربزرگم همیشه با ضربالمثل حرف میزد.
ye ketab-e khub dar bare-ye zarbolmasal-ha-ye farsi mikhaham.
I want a good book about Persian proverbs.
یک کتاب خوب درباره ضربالمثلهای فارسی میخواهم.
Where it comes from
Arabic compound, frozen in Persian without analysis. ضرب (zarb, the striking, the coining) plus ال (al, the definite article) plus مثل (masal, example, similitude). Literally the striking of the example, the minted similitude, the way one mints a coin. The construction is classical Arabic and Persian absorbed it whole, ZWNJ and all. Modern Persian writes it ضربالمثل with a half-space between zarb and almasal, treating the compound as one word.
References
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