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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 1/5

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

5 years ago

Primrose path

One who follows the primrose path is one who indulges in sportive delights along the path of pleasure. The allusion comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act I, Scene 3) when Ophelia tells Laertes, her brother, who just been loading her with brotherly advice: “Do not, as some ungracious pastors do/Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven/ Whilst like a puff’d and reckless libertine/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads.”

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Comments (4)

stacey_mb
5 years ago
It's amazing how many everyday phrases come from Shakespeare! It would be lovely to see an actual primrose path, and sportive delights would be entertaining too!
User
5 years ago
I wonder what the origin of "libertine" is? I have several t-shirts proclaiming my allegiance to the band "the Libertines", lol.
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Sometimes it's just that simple. Thanks for these Jim.
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Bookwoman
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I wonder what the origin of "libertine" is?

late 14c., "a freedman, an emancipated slave," from Latin libertinus "condition of a freedman; member of a class of freedmen," from libertus "one's freedmen, emancipated person," from liber "free"...

1570s, "free, unrestrained," originally in religion, from libertine (adj.). Meaning "licentious, dissolute" is from c. 1600.

https://www.etymonline.com/word/libertine
User
5 years ago
okay, so its 'dissolute' meaning started about the same time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. I wonder how much Hamlet had to do with its continued use.

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