a missing "fast"?

[Dan Goncharoff]

Regarding the German, the cognate for English "fast" is the German "fest".

Close enough for government work?

DanG



On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 11:05 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: a missing "fast"?
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>
> 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:
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>>> 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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