[lit-ideas] "Not a maiden, but a monument" (Was: Patience)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:14:23 EDT
In a message dated 9/15/2004 1:50:50 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Then I realized that I didn't even know what was meant, in the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, by "monument."
---
Below, from the OED. Apparently, Shakespeare liked the word quite a bit.
Cheers, JL.
----
'monument' [< classical Latin monumentum, monimentum commemorative statue
or building, tomb, reminder, written record, literary work < <NOre to remind
(see MONEO n.) + -mentum -MENT.
A tomb, a sepulchre. Also fig.
1597 SHAKESPEARE Rom. & Jul. III. v. 201
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
A statue, building, or other structure erected to commemorate a famous or
notable person or event. -- An effigy; a carved figure, statue. Freq. in
Shakespeare.
1594 SHAKESPEARE Lucr. sig. D2,
Where like a virtuous Monument she lies,
To be admir'd of lewd unhallowed eyes.
1616 SHAKESPEARE Cymb. (1623) II. ii. 32
O sleepe, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her,
And be her sense but as a monument,
Thus in a chappel lying.
1616 SHAKESPEARE All's Well (1623) IV. ii. 6
If the quick fire of youth light not your mind,
You are no maiden but a monument.
A statue or other structure erected in memory of the dead, either over the
grave or in a church, etc.
1594 SHAKESPEARE Tit. A. I. i. 347
Traitors away, he rests not in this tomb:
This monument five hundreth years hath stood,
Which I haue sumptuouslie reedified.
b. A thing that serves as identification; a mark, sign. Also: a thing that
gives warning; a portent. Obs.
1616 SHAKESPEARE Tam. Shr. (1623) III. ii. 95 Wherefore gaze this goodly
company, As if they saw some wondrous monument, Some Commet, or vnusuall
prodigie?
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/entry_main/00315291?query_type=word&queryword=monument&edition=3e&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alp
ha&search_id=soBe-F101AD-1925&result_place=1&case_id=soBe-O9LxID-1927&p=0&sp=0
&qt=1&ct=0&ad#top)
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