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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010Friends to the ground
Bernardo: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste. Francisco: I think I hear them.—Stand, ho! Who is there? [Enter Horatio and Marcellus.] Horatio: Friends to this ground. Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane. (Hamlet, 1st Act by Shakespeare) About "friends to the ground" I wonder why it isn't "a friends to the ground." He was asked, "Who is there?" And he replies, "Friends to this ground." Or, it could be interpreted "We are friends to the ground." including the other man Marcellus? Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than single usage, meaning I'm very friendly to this land? > Bernardo: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The > rivals of my watch, [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than > single usage, meaning I'm very friendly to this land? "This ground" just means "this land", that is, Denmark. Or perhaps, more specifically, the castle (and what it represents). A potentially interesting thing is that it's ambiguous as to whether they actually refer to Claudius.  SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |Your claim might have more 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |credibility if you hadn't mispelled Palo Alto, CA 94304 |"inteligent" kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ Sorry, I've made an error with spelling, which makes unclear my qestion. my question is simply: Why doen't he say "a friend to the ground" instead of "friends to the ground"? > Sorry, I've made an error with spelling, which makes unclear my > qestion. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Why doen't he say "a friend to the ground" instead of "friends to the > ground"? Horatio is referring to himself and Marcellus together. -- Jerry Friedman In our last episode, <1803066c-46ff-47ef-8282-926838fbc565@v25g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>, the lovely and talented Masa broadcast on alt.usage.english: > Bernardo: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The > rivals of my watch, [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Marcellus: And liegemen to the Dane. > (Hamlet, 1st Act by Shakespeare) > About "friends to the ground" > I wonder why it isn't "a friends to the ground." "A" plus the plural is impossible. > He was asked, "Who is there?" > And he replies, "Friends to this ground." > Or, it could be interpreted "We are friends to the ground." including the > other man Marcellus? It includes Marcellus, but "friends to the ground" is not the same as "friends to this ground." > Or, it's just emphatic, assuming that plural is more emphatic than single > usage, meaning I'm very friendly to this land? It only means "allies." They are allies and vassals. SignatureLars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> Warbama's Afghaninam day: 36 864.7 hours since Warbama declared Viet Nam II. Warbama: An LBJ for the Twenty-First century. No hope. No change. > In our last episode, > <1803066c-46ff-47ef-8282-926838fbc565@v25g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>, the [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > It only means "allies." They are allies and vassals. If this is meant to be a routinized military interchange, the everyday rules of language are overruled by its military character. The modern version (used by sentries) is: Q: Halt! Who goes there? A: Friend. Q: Advance, friend, and be recognized. or else Q: Password ? The special case used to be widely known of the ritual by which the night guard takes over the Tower of London: Q: Halt! Who goes there? A: The keys. Q: Whose keys? A: The king's keys and so on. The practical point for Shakespeare (and any other place than the Tower of London) is that the first response ought to be "Friend," or else a nervous sentry is likely to use his weapon. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) > If this is meant to be a routinized military interchange, > the everyday rules of language are overruled by its [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > the Tower of London) is that the first response ought to be > "Friend," or else a nervous sentry is likely to use his weapon. I'm not sure what they draw it from, but several works I looked at imply that a common interpretation is that Marcellus's "liegemen of the Dane" was the actual password and that Horatio's "friends of this ground" was a response that a non-military person would come up with, so the exchange was Marcellus covering to make sure that there wasn't an adverse reaction to an incorrect password. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |Feeling good about government is like 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |looking on the bright side of any Palo Alto, CA 94304 |catastrophe. When you quit looking |on the bright side, the catastrophe kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |is still there. (650)857-7572 | P.J. O'Rourke http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |
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