query: the chain of wedlock

[Garson O'Toole]

 Charles C Rice wrote
> A colleague has asked about the source of the saying:
>
> The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it - and
> sometimes three.

I was unable to find this saying in the Yale Book of Quotations under
Alexandre Dumas the Elder, Alexandre Dumas the Younger, or Heraclitus.
Searching for the terms wedlock and matrimony within YBQ also did not
yield the target quote.

There is an instance of the saying in Google Books in a volume that is
dated four years after Alexandre Dumas, son, died. The book of
epigrams attributes the saying to the son. However, this cite is
rather late, so it is a weak piece of evidence.

Cite: 1899, Men in Epigram compiled by Frederick W. Morton, Page 82,
A.C. McClurg and Company, Chicago. (Google Books full view)

The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it -
sometimes three.
                Alexandre Dumas.

http://books.google.com/books?id=__8VAAAAYAAJ&q=%22chain+of%22#v=snippet&

I think that this book uses the name "Alexandre Dumas" to refer to the
younger Dumas because other entries in the volume are labeled with the
name "Alexandre Dumas, père". I searched for the expression primarily
in English. Google Books does have a volume with an assigned date of
1933 that contains a French variant of the expression attributed to
Alexandre Dumas fils:

Les chaînes du mariage sont si lourdes qu'il n'est pas trop de trois
pour les porter.

http://books.google.com/books?id=QJUBub2q9tAC&q=lourdes#search_anchor

Garson

On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 10:37 AM, Charles C Rice <cxr1086 at louisiana.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Rice <cxr1086 at LOUISIANA.EDU>
> Subject:      query: the chain of wedlock
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A colleague has asked about the source of the saying:
>
> The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it - and
> sometimes three.
>
> It is variously cited as from Heraclitus or from Alexandre Dumas, père or
> fils. Wikiquotes gives it to Dumas père but unsourced. Unfortunately I
> don't have a copy of YBQ, in which the answer surely resides...
>
> Thanks,
> Clai Rice
>
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