الاستعارة لا تغير الأمثال
Metaphorical application does not change the established wording of proverbs.
The familiar version of “bi-l-ṣayfi ḍayyaʿti al-laban” addresses a woman, using a feminine verbal form. Even if the saying is later used to rebuke a man or a different person, one need not remodel its conventional wording to match the new addressee.
The proverb is recognized through its inherited verbal form; a new circumstance is interpreted through that remembered form. Rewriting its pronouns and inflections on every occasion would weaken the recognizable reference on which the proverb depends.