 |
 |
Many thanks for all that interesting information. I had long imagined that a petard was a piece of rope or something. I suppose I should have looked it up myself. John >----Original Message---- >From: [log in to unmask] >Date: 16/10/2013 22:46 >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Subj: Re: pat snap>>>>> .!. *> > >Perhaps your builder was French and letting fly, so to speak, Pat. See below (not my own scholarship ) >The phrase 'hoist with one's own petar[d]' is often cited as 'hoist by one's own petar[d]'. The two forms mean the same, although the former is strictly a more accurate version of the original source. A petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. They were originally metallic and bell- shaped but later cubical wooden boxes. Whatever the shape, the significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder - basically what we would now call a bomb. > >The device was used by the military forces of all the major European fighting nations by the 16th century. In French and English - petar or petard, and in Spanish and Italian - petardo. > >The dictionary maker John Florio defined them like this in 1598: > >"Petardo - a squib or petard of gun powder vsed to burst vp gates or doores with." > >The French have the word 'péter' - to fart, which it's hard to imagine is unrelated. > >Petar was part of the everyday language around that time, as in this rather colourful line from Zackary Coke in his workLogick, 1654: > >"The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your entrances through heavens Portcullis". > >Once the word is known, 'hoist by your own petard' is easy to fathom. It's nice also to have a definitive source - no less than Shakespeare, who gives the line to Hamlet, 1602: > >"For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar". > > > >Cheers, > >Bill > > >> On 17 Oct 2013, at 4:44 am, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >> Cheers Doug and Lawrence -I was sort of remembering also Hoffnung's >> 'Bricklayer petarded is such a nice word -well the builder was standing by >> the door and the hoist blew up severly injuring him and also poetic licence >> P old P >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On >> Behalf Of Douglas Barbour >> Sent: 16 October 2013 17:18 >> To: [log in to unmask] >> Subject: Re: pat snap>>>>> .!.*> >> >> Play on, P (although L might have a point)... >> >> D >> On 2013-10-16, at 2:28 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> >> wrote: >> >>> ACCIDENT >>> >>> Accident >>> sad accident >>> terrible accident >>> >>> a builder >>> was petarded >>> by his own hoist >>> >>> >>> pmcmanus >>> r401 >>> I am enjoying myself playing with sayings Saying with playings >> >> Douglas Barbour >> [log in to unmask] >> >> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/>> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/ >> >> Latest books: >> Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy) >> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962>> Recording Dates >> (Rubicon Press) >> >> Art is always the replacing of indifference by attention. >> >> Guy Davenport >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >