a missing "fast"?

[Laurence Horn]

On Aug 25, 2011, at 10:56 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> I vote for "securely". Under the laws of the time, it was possible to
> engage in a secret marriage, but the couple was not entitle to
> copulate until the marriage was publicly declared. That is Claudio's
> issue here -- he is married (upon a true contract...she is fast my
> wife), but he also "got possession" of his wife's bed without the
> "denunciation ... of outward order".
> DanG

I guess so; the use just didn't seem to quite fit under the 'secure' entry for "fast", and then there is the curious but maybe just coincidental fact about the German "fast"…

LH
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      a missing "fast"?
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Just saw a production of "Measure for Measure" in the park here last =
>> night and was struck by a use of _fast_ that doesn't seem to correspond =
>> to any of the entries under the adverbial FAST in the OED.  The speaker, =
>> Claudio, has just been condemned to death by Angelo, the puritanical =
>> fill-in chief of state in Vienna, for fornication, as revealed by=85well, =
>> you'll see:
>>
>> CLAUDIO:
>> Thus stands it with me: upon a true contract
>> I got possession of Julietta's bed:
>> You know the lady; she is fast my wife,
>> Save that we do the denunciation lack
>> Of outward order: this we came not to,
>> Only for propagation of a dower
>> Remaining in the coffer of her friends,
>> =46rom whom we thought it meet to hide our love
>> Till time had made them for us. But it chances
>> The stealth of our most mutual entertainment
>> With character too gross is writ on Juliet.
>>
>> So they were affianced or common-law-married partners who would have =
>> been actually married except without the official banns being posted.  =
>> As far as I can tell, when Claudio says "she is fast my wife" in the =
>> third line, he means that Juliet is almost, nearly, or virtually his =
>> wife.  But as noted, this isn't in the OED entry for FAST, adv.  What's =
>> striking is that this is precisely the main (or only?) sense of the =
>> German word _fast_.  Is this just a coincidence, or did that sense =
>> persist into Early Modern English as well, in which case why no subentry =
>> for it along with those for 'fixedly', 'diligently', 'vigorously', =
>> 'securely', 'strictly', 'rapidly', 'immediately', and 'in a dissipated =
>> manner'?  Or is Claudio's use somehow an instance of 'securely' (with =
>> the "save" clause marking the way in which the bond isn't all that =
>> secure)?  None of the relevant cites at that subentry really seem at all =
>> parallel. =20
>>
>> LH
>> =09=
>>
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