Please explain the intuition and connection behind the definition of shrift and short shrift?
How does the former imply the latter?
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4A short shrift was a shrift given to prisoners about to be executed. It was often brief and clumsy, not in accordance with the usual practices, and thus short. The modern use is a metaphor arising therefrom.– AnonymCommented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:13
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1What @Anonym said...see also the "archaic" use of short shrift in the link you provided– ShokhetCommented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:15
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1Compare Hamlet's forged death warrant for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, from early in the play's final scene: “An earnest conjuration from the King, / . . . / That on the view, and knowing of these contents, / Without debatement further more or less, / He should those bearers put to sudden death, / Not shriving time allowed.”– Brian DonovanCommented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:30
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1@FumbleFingers Not necessarily....there is still some jump from there to what Brian said....you need the info from the source, but to put it together is a little more than just what's there– ShokhetCommented Jun 29, 2014 at 16:57
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2@FumbleFingers If he's asking for the "intuition or connection" between the two words, it may not be so clear to some [even serious] "enthusiasts"....have you heard of expert's curse?– ShokhetCommented Jun 29, 2014 at 17:18
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3 Answers
To me the connection is fairly direct, because "short shrift" specifically connotes that someone is impatient with someone else's excuses. So, a priest taking confession in a dismissive way would be a good example of that. I interpret "short" here in the sense of "less than usual" rather than "lasting a brief time".
as Anonym said in comments
Short Shrift was a shrift given to prisoners about to be executed. It was often brief and clumsy, not in accordance with the usual practices, and thus short.
It was brief time for confession or absolution given to a condemned prisoner before his or her execution.
I just encountered this Reddit post which revealed the following answer to my question: see 12 herefrom.
12. shrift
We might not know what a shrift is anymore, but we know we don't want to get a short one. "Shrift" was a word for a confession, something it seems we might want to keep short, or a penance imposed by a priest, something we would definitely want to keep short. But the phrase "short shrift" came from the practice of allowing a little time for the condemned to make a confession before being executed. So in that context, shorter was not better.