Concept of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's probably not it, but it's far earlier than any allusion I can think
of.

JL

On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Concept of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
>
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>
> I have recently come across the following line of Gibbon's in The Decline
> and Fall of the Roman Empire:  "The prediction, as it is usual, contributed
> to its own accomplishment."  This makes me wonder, what is the earliest
> known expression of the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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