Timeline for Why "hoist" in "Hoist with one's own petard"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Nov 22, 2014 at 11:51 | comment | added | terdon | Strictly speaking, pétar never meant fart, that's péter. But yes, pétard derives from it. However, petard entered English in the 16th century from the French pétard and it already meant "small bomb". I very much doubt that Shakespeare's audiences knew of the etymology of the French word. That would be like expecting English audiences to get the pun if you make a joke about sycophants and figs. Remember that Shakespeare's audiences were not educated people and that he was not above the odd, more direct, fart joke. | |
| Nov 21, 2014 at 18:46 | history | edited | rojotoro | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Nov 21, 2014 at 18:38 | review | Late answers | |||
| Nov 21, 2014 at 18:41 | |||||
| Nov 21, 2014 at 18:23 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 21, 2014 at 19:09 | |||||
| Nov 21, 2014 at 18:22 | history | answered | rojotoro | CC BY-SA 3.0 |