Literal translation
never has a hunter fed his father
Meaning
no hunter ever fed his father from the hunt
Explanation
This saying observes how little profit hunting brings as a means of subsistence. Jamai (never) and cassaire (hunter) set out the general claim ; a nourri soun paire (has fed his father, from nourri, to feed) spells out the expected failure : unlike the ploughman or the herder, whose work regularly feeds the household, the hunter comes home empty-handed more often than not, and so cannot be relied on to sustain a family over time. The saying reflects a peasant wisdom wary of uncertain pursuits, set against the steady work of the land or of livestock : hunting is a pleasure, a diversion, sometimes a supplement, but never a reliable source of food. It is used to warn against any uncertain activity presented as a livelihood, whether hunting itself or, by extension, any risky venture wrongly expected to provide steady subsistence. Its sentence-like form, with jamai placed first, gives it the authority of a truth tested by generations of observation.