Line 3147 - Commentary Note (CN) 
Commentary notes (CN):
1. SMALL CAPS Indicate editions. Notes for each commentator are divided into three parts:
In the 1st two lines of a record, when the name of the source text (the siglum) is printed in SMALL CAPS, the comment comes from an EDITION; when it is in normal font, it is derived from a book, article, ms. record or other source. We occasionally use small caps for ms. sources and for works related to editions. See bibliographies for complete information (in process).
2. How comments are related to predecessors' comments. In the second line of a record, a label "without attribution" indicates that a prior writer made the same or a similar point; such similarities do not usually indicate plagiarism because many writers do not, as a practice, indicate the sources of their glosses. We provide the designation ("standard") to indicate a gloss in common use. We use ≈ for "equivalent to" and = for "exactly alike."
3. Original comment. When the second line is blank after the writer's siglum, we are signaling that we have not seen that writer's gloss prior to that date. We welcome correction on this point.
4. Words from the play under discussion (lemmata). In the third line or lines of a record, the lemmata after the TLN (Through Line Number] are from Q2. When the difference between Q2 and the authors' lemma(ta) is significant, we include the writer's lemma(ta). When the gloss is for a whole line or lines, only the line number(s) appear. Through Line Numbers are numbers straight through a play and include stage directions. Most modern editions still use the system of starting line numbers afresh for every scene and do not assign line numbers to stage directions.
5. Bibliographic information. In the third line of the record, where we record the gloss, we provide concise bibliographic information, expanded in the bibliographies, several of which are in process.
6. References to other lines or other works. For a writer's reference to a passage elsewhere in Ham. we provide, in brackets, Through Line Numbers (TLN) from the Norton F1 (used by permission); we call these xref, i.e., cross references. We call references to Shakespearean plays other than Ham. “parallels” (//) and indicate Riverside act, scene and line number as well as TLN. We call references to non-Shakespearean works “analogues.”
7. Further information: See the Introduction for explanations of other abbreviations.
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Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand
| 3147 Wee’le make a solemne wager on your {cunnings} <commings>, | 4.7.155 |
|---|
1755 John
John
3147 cunnings] Johnson (1755, cunning, 1): “n.s. [cunninge, Saxon] 1. Artifice; deceit; flyness; sleight; craft; subtilty; dissiulation; fraduulent dexterity. ‘What if I be not so much the oet, as even that miserable subject of his cunning, whereof you speak.’ Sidney
“‘We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom; and certaintly there is gerat difference between a cunning man and a wise man, not only in oint of honesty, but in point of ability’ Bacon, Essay 23.
“‘These small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them; for nothing doth more hurt than that cnning men pass for wise.’ Bacon.”
1805 Seymour
Seymour
3147 cunnings]
Seymour (1805, 2:197) : <p. 197>“Your skill.” </p. 197>
1818 Todd
Todd = John+
3147 cunnings] Todd (1818, cunning, 1): Ҡn.s. [cunninge, Saxon. This word is not often found in the plural number; but it is so used by Shakspeare, in the sense of skill, to which definition Dr. Johnson gives no example.]
1. Artifice; deceit; flyness; sleight; craft; subtilty; dissiulation; fraduulent dexterity. ‘What if I be not so much the oet, as even that miserable subject of his cunning, whereof you speak.’ Sidney
‘We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom; and certaintly there is gerat difference between a cunning man and a wise man, not only in oint of honesty, but in point of ability’ Bacon, Essay 23.
“These small wares and petty points of cunning are infinite, and it were a good deed to make a list of them; for nothing doth more hurt than that cnning men pass for wise. Bacon. [adds Locke] ‘Discourage cunning in a child; cunning Is the ape of wisdom.”
The † simply means that Todd is adding to the etymology. See his introduction to the text in my file on Todd’s 1818 dictionary.
1822 Nares
Nares : standard
3147 cunnings] Nares (1822; 1905): “adj. Skilful, knowing. At present to be cunning implies craft, but the following passage shows that formerly they might be separated: ‘Wherein neat and clean, but to carve a capon.’” [this latter red is from the 1876 enlarged edition]
1826 sing1
sing1
3147 cunnings] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Cunning is skill.”
1832 cald2
cald2
3147 cunnings]
Caldecott (ed. 1832) : “
comming]] “i.e. meeting in assault, bout or pass at fence. ‘
Comming. Gall. Venue.’
Minshieu . ‘Venne. Fr. a
coming , also a venny in fencing.’ Howell’s Cotgrave’s
Dict .
Fr. & Engl . Fo. 1673. as also
a comming , Venue. “
1833 valpy
valpy ≈ standard
3147 cunnings] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Skill.”
1841 knt1 (nd)
knt1
3147 cunnings] Knight (ed. [1839]) : “commings]] meetings in assault. The comming is the uenue . In the quartos we have cunnings .”
1843 col1
col1
3147 cunnings] Collier (ed. 1843) : “So all the quartos, and no doubt rightly: the folio prints it commings . Lower down it substitutes ‘prepared’ for preferr’d of the quartos, which is probably the true word.”
1844 verp
verp
3147 cunnings]
Verplanck (ed. 1844): “On the skill of each of you; as in our English Bible—’Let my right hand forget her cunning.’”
1857 dyce1
dyce1 : cald2 ; knt1
3147 cunnings] Dyce (ed. 1857) : “So the quartos, 1604, &c.—The folio has ‘—on your commings,’ &c.; which Caldecott and Mr. Knight retain (old spellings and all) in the sense of —venues, bouts.”
1858 col3
col3 : col1 + magenta underlined
3147 cunnings] Collier (ed. 1858) : “it [the 1623 Folio] is amended to ‘cunnings’ in the corr. fo. 1632: few word s have been more misrepresented than ‘cunning’ and coming : see Vol. iii. p. 623. Farther on, the folio substitutes ‘prepar’d’ for preferr’d’ of the 4tos, which last is probably the true word.”
col3
3147 cunnings] Collier (ed. 1858: Glossary) : “skill.”
1860 Walker
Walker
3147 your cunnings] Walker (1860, II:192): “on you cunnings]]”
Walker indicates that his reprint of the first folio reads you cunnings. He identifies this reprint as an 1808 reprint in his first volume.
1864-68 c&mc
c&mc
3147 cunnings] Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1864-68, rpt. 1874-78): “‘Your respective skills,’ ‘the respective skill of each of you.’ The Folio misprints ‘commings’ for ‘cunnings,’ which is the word in the Quartos; and this misprint in the present passage, as well as a similar one in [Tro.] helps to show the propriety of the reading adopted and discussed in Note 59, Act v., [AW]. See also Note 27, Act iii., [Tro.].”
1866a dyce2
dyce2 = dyce1
3147 cunnings]
1869 tsch
tsch
3147 cunnings] Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “cunnings zu obligem: they can well on horseback. [3081]” [“cunnings to the above: they can well on horseback.”]
1876 Nares
Nares : standard
3147 cunnings] Nares (1822; rev. & enl. 1876; 1905): “adj. Skilful, knowing. At present to be cunning implies craft, but the following passage shows that formerly they might be separated: ‘Wherein neat and clean, but to carve a capon.’”
1877 v1877
v1877 : ≈ cald2 (subst.) ; ≈ knt1 (subst.)
1882 elze3
elze3
3147 cunnings] Elze (ed. 1882): “In Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, I,i (Works, ed. Dyce, in 1 vol., p. 253b) the old copies rad cunning instead of coming.”
1885 macd
macd
3147 cunnings] MacDonald (ed. 1885): “Veney, venue, is a term of fencing: a bout, a thrust—from venir, to come—whence ‘commings.’ But cunnings, meaning skills, may be the word.” [see n. 3631].”
1885 mull
mull ≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
1899 ard1
ard1 : cald2; knt1
3147 cunnings] Dowden (ed. 1899): “skill. Caldecott and Knight explain F commings as bouts at fence. Cotgrave has Venue, ‘A comming; . . . also a vennie in fencing.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ Ard1 w/o attribution
3147 cunnings]
1934 cam3
cam3 :standard
3147 cunnings] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)
1939 KIT2
Kit2
3147 solemne] Kittredge (ed. 1939): “formal.”
3147 solemne] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary): “formal.”
Kit2≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
3147 cunnings] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):
1951 alex
Alex ≈ standard
3147 cunnings] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)
1951 crg2
crg2=crg1
3147 cunnings]
1954 sis
sis ≈ standard
3147 cunnings] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):
1980 pen2
pen2 ≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
1982 ard2
ard2 ≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
1984 chal
chal : standard
3147 cunnings]
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
bev2: standard
3147 cunnings]
1992 fol2
fol2≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
1993 dent
dent ≈ standard
3147 cunnings]
1998 OED
OED
3147 cunnings] OED 5. Now usually in bad sense: Skill employed in a secret or underhand manner, or for purposes of deceit; skilful deceit, craft, artifice. (Cf. CRAFT 4.) b. As a personal quality: Disposition to use one’s skill in an underhand way; skilfulness in deceiving, craftiness, artfulness.
3147