Silver bullet (figurative 1945)

[Baker, John]

        Unpossible!

        But no, Wikipedia is not wrong, or at least has not been shown
to be.  Wikipedia is talking about the modern belief that silver bullets
are needed to kill a werewolf.  The belief in silver bullets as a
sovereign remedy against evil kings, witches, and perhaps vampires is
much older.  The examples found by Joel and me both refer to the same
incident:  Allegations by the perjurer Titus Oates that Catholic
plotters sought to kill the king with a silver bullet in 1678.


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 12:49 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)

So Wikipedia is wrong????

JL

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 12:39 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)
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>
> These are the literal sense, "1.a. A bullet made of silver. Freq.
> with reference to the folk tradition that such a bullet can harm a
> werewolf (or other supernatural being) whereas an ordinary bullet
> cannot."  Scott is one of the OED quotations, but the earliest is:
>
> 1678    Trials Ireland 23   They had Silver Bullets to shoot with,
> and Grove would have had the Bullets to be Champt, for fear that if
> he should Shoot, if the Bullets were Round, the Wound that might be
> given might be Cured.
>
> Joel
>
> At 1/10/2011 11:10 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:
> >Charles Doyle wrote:
> >
> > > It is somewhat commonly reported--as in a novel I've been reading
> > > (Elizabeth Kostova'a _The Historian_)--that Stoker's _Dracula_
mentions
> the
> > > silver bullet among several vampire repellants.  As far as my
memory
> > > serves, however, (often not very far) that information is
incorrect.
> >
> >Indeed. Surely you must use a sharp wooden stake for a vampire.
Silver
> >bullets are effective against werewolves, witches and the devil. Sir
> >Walter Scott, for example, several times mentions silver bullets used
to
> >counter such.
> >
> >--
> >Michael Quinion
> >Editor, World Wide Words
> >Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> >

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