Possible Antedating of Espionage "Mole"

[Jonathan Lighter]

The Bacon cite is authentic. I can remember checking it out twenty or more
years ago.

There is no evidence, however, that "mole" was lexicalized in this sense
before the 20th century. For Bacon it appears merely to have been a
metaphor.

JL


On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Possible Antedating of Espionage "Mole"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Paul Dickson, in his recent book Authorisms, has an interesting entry for
> t=
> he espionage term "mole."  He notes that CIA historian Walter Pforzheimer
> a=
> ttributed 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
>
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