Dating "The king is dead; long live the king"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> When was the phrase "The king is dead; long live the king" first
> used?  What is the earliest written occurrence?  Any kingdom and
> language qualifies -- English, French, Sumerian, Egyptian, ... .

When working on this one for my book I found it to be a tough nut to
crack.  The earliest I found was in the _Encyclopaedia Americana_ (1851),
although it is said to date in French back to the sixteenth century or
earlier.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
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