Possible Antedating of Espionage "Mole"

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Sun Jul 20 14:11:53 UTC 2014


Paul Dickson, in his recent book Authorisms, has an interesting entry for the espionage term "mole."  He notes that CIA historian Walter Pforzheimer attributed the term to Francis Bacon's 1622 biography of King Henry VII: "He was careful and liberal to obtaine good Intelligence from all parts abroad ... He had such Moles perpetually working and casting to undermine him."  The OED's first use is dated 1922.



Fred Shapiro

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list