Antedating of "break a leg" (1940)--correction, now 1925

[Victor]

1.    I was just reminded that the burlesque theory also goes well with
the possible Yiddish origin of the phrase that was later adopted into
German, English and Polish as variations on "break a leg" (this shows up
in a number of sources, including Wiki). The parallel Russian expression
is distinctly different, but does relate to hunting, so I am not taking
the hunting origin of the expression lightly.

1.      Sam Clements wrote:

> I think Doug Wilson's posts pretty well take it back as far as the turn of
> the Century.  He's sneaky like that.   :)
>

While this is true, the reference pushing it back is a German one and
relates to hunting, if I understood correctly. Yiddish was not likely to
have contributed to German hunting lore. But it could explain a
Trans-Atlantic connection.

3.   This is in an entirely different vein. I came across a source that
I find rather intriguing.
A Dictionary of Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, 1896.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-rFZAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA175&dq=%22break+a+leg%22+date:1850-1920&lr=&num=20&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES&ei=jUWnSdL-MYusMoK-hYQO&client=firefox-a

This piece suggests several intriguing possibilities. First, "to break a
leg" appears to be an old euphemism for a number of things. In
particular, the book cites a 1737 source as "She hath broken her leg
above the knee, i.e., had a bastard."

It also equates "to cut one's leg" with getting drunk, and "to have a
bone in one's leg" with "to be incapable of action" (i.e., a version of
"a bone in one's throat"). In the latter sense, breaking a leg would be
certain to fix that problem. The sourcing is interesting too--the "leg"
version goes back to Swift, 1738 (the throat version is obviously older
and more widespread).

Yet another proverbial expression, on the following page, is "to fall on
one's leg", which supposedly means "to prosper". Of all the close calls,
this one seems to be the closest and it is dated back to 1841, "A man
who has plenty of brains generally falls on his legs." The odd thing is
that this seems to be closer to "to land on one's legs" rather than "to
break a leg". But tying it to acting may solve that problem.

I am not offering any answers, just a bunch of possibilities.

    VS-)

Victor wrote:
> I will break a rule and cite something without source because it may
> suggest where to look. When I first heard someone talk about the origin
> of the phrase s/he suggested that it went back to (at least) burlesque,
> which may well explain the German connection as well as push it at least
> into the early 1920s if not all the way back to the turn of the century.
>

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