Silver bullet -- literal!

[Joel S. Berson]

This still is the literal bullet, for which OED has citations not
only from the Popish Plot (1678), but also from the Connecticut
Yankee John Trumbull, on how they won't kill a witch (but apparently
they were effective against other prey):
      1772    J. Trumbull Progr. Dulness iii, in Poet. Wks. (1820)
II. 84   So witches, hunters say, confound 'em, For silver bullets
only wound 'em.

And for Scott, earlier than Bride of Lammermoor and earlier than Jon's 1816:
      1808    Scott in Lockhart (1869) III. xviii. 159,   I..have
only hopes that he may be shot with a silver bullet.

Joel

At 1/10/2011 03:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>1816 _The British Review, and London Journal_ VII (Feb.) 108: This had been
>described to him by a negro as a walking vampire of the height of a man;
>which could only be killed by a silver bullet.
>
>The incident referred to occurs in _The Journal of Llewelyn Penrose, a
>Seaman_ (1815), which the reviewer cited concludes is most likely a work of
>fiction.  Its publication appears to antedate Scott's _Bride of Lammermoor_,
>which contains the witch/bullet passage.
>
>JL
>
>On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Silver bullet (figurative 1945)
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Review of Stoker's novel shows Van Helsing pointing out several
> > weaknesses of the vampire, including: "a sacred bullet fired into the
> > coffin kill him so that he be true dead". I don't know exactly which
> > bullets are sacred: maybe it's understood that this refers to a bullet
> > specially blessed by the priest or something like that. I see no mention
> > of a silver bullet.
> >
> > -- Doug Wilson
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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