239 Polonius] Walker (1860, 2: 32-3): <p. 32> A critic who should suggest that Polonius was a corruption of Apollonius, would </p. 32><p. 33> perhaps ‘make much laugh,’ as Man Friday [Robinson Crusoe, Defoe] says; yet I know not that it is more strange than Laertes, and fifty other similar names in our old plays. (This was suggested to me by the accidental spelling Pollonius, fol. Hamlet, p. 154, col. 1. [i.e. F1 239]) </p. 33>

239 Polonius]

239 Polonius] Gollancz (14 May 1904, p. 630, paraphrased in British Academy 1:314):

Gollancz discussed his theory re the name Polonius for a Counsellor in place of Corambis or Corambus from Q1, Sh, used the name Corambis in AWW. “The name,” this is the reporter’s language, not G’s, “was probably invented by the old dramatist [of the ur-Hamlet] from the Latin phrase crambe repetita, adopted into Eng. in the 16th c as ‘crambe,’ and used as a synonym for unpleasant and tedious iteration. [OED says it derives from cabbage, and is always used figuratively, as G says.] Corambis was, as it were, a variant for ‘old Crambo; the character was probably easily suggestive of being a caricature of Burleigh; the aged statesman died in 1598, and his son, Robert Cecil, was one of the foremost men of the State.

“Shakespeare, working at the old play after that date, was anxious to make it clear that his counsellor was not a stage picture of the great English statesman, so he called the character by the new name—Polonius.” A Polish counsellor for Denmark was odd, but it would not have been odd in Sweden because “the young King of Poland, who was also King of Sweden, was at war with his usurping uncle, who had unlawfully seized the crown of Sweden. England was deeply interested in the struggle. Shakspeare created the name Polonius with special reference to the ideal ‘counsellor’ as depicted in a work famous throughout Europe: ‘De Optimo Senatore’ (Venice, 1568), written by Laurentius Grimalius Goslicius, perhaps the greatest Polish statesman of the time. Of this work a translation was made in 1598. Illustrative passages from ‘The Counsellor’ were quoted, suggestive not only of Polonius, but also of some of Hamlet’s most famous utterances. The history of the book in English was dealt with, and its use by Shakspeare. . . . ”

239 Polonius] Spencer (ed. 1980): “(pronounced with the first ’o’ short and the second ’o’ (accented) long). This is Latin for ’of Poland’: a surprising choice for the name of the principal minister of Denmark in a play which involves the conquest of part of the adjacent kingdom of Poland. In real life, there is no reason why someone who happened to be named Mr Britain should not be President of the United States, or a M. Langlais Minister of Defense in France. But in fiction we expect things to be more carefully arranged.”

239 Polonius] Landis (1984, pp. 8-17) comments on the usefulness for Sh. in naming the counsellor Polonius and featuring Poland at various points in the play: <p. 17> “Poland, then, is that little plot of ground, where [. . . ] thousands go obediently to their graves for no good reason. It is that locus that stands for male violence which, if it cannot go against its original antagonist [. . . ] must supply a substitute. [. . . ] Just as King Hamlet smote the ‘sledded Polacks,’ as Fortinbras went against Poland, and as Hamlet mistakenly stabbed Polonius—the Polish one—so the larger violences of the play are carried forth, and will be carried forth again and again if one can judge from Hamlet’s choice of Fortinbras as his successor and Fortinbras’s characteristic staging of Hamlet’s funeral as a military salute.” </p. 17>

239 Polonius] Kliman (2002): See “Three Notes on Polonius: Position, Residence and Name.” Shakespeare Bulletin 20.2 (Spring 2002): 5-7.

239 Polonius] Condren (2006, p. 107): "Polonius is at once central and marginal to the action: attached to all in turn, he only gets in the way, and so dies behind the arras, a sort of absent presence."