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Line 3420 - 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. Click here for more information about browsing the entries and here for more information about the special symbols used in Hamletworks. Click the question mark icon above to remove this help message.

Notes for lines 2951-end ed. Hardin A. Aasand

For explanation of sigla, such as jen, see the editions bib.

3420 <Shardes,> Flints and peebles should be throwne on her: 3420	5.1.231

1568 Withal

Withal

3420 Shardes] Withals (1568, mason): “A sharde or brooken peece of a tyle, testa. “

Withal

3420 Mason] Withals (1568, mason):”The Mason wyth hys instrumentes, and mattier wherewith he woorketh”

1580 Barrett

Barrett

3420 Shardes] Barrett (1580, rubble): “Shardes, or peeces of stones broken & shattered, rubble, or rubbish of old houses. Rudus, rúderis, n.g. Liu. reipion [English: “wreck”].”

3420 Shardes] Barrett (1580, Shardes of stones): “Fragmentum lapidis. Dic. kl¡sma . Vide Rubbish.A vessell made of baked earth, a shard of an earthen pot, the shell of an egge, or a snaile. Testa, æ, f. g. plˆnqoj . Vne vaisseau de terre cuicte. Taiz de pots de terre. Coquille d’ æuf, ou de limacon. & Testula, l æ. Col. plˆnqion . A little sharde, shell, &c.”

1744 han1

han1

3420 Shardes] Hanmer (ed. 1744, 6: Glossary): “a tile or broken piece of a tile; thence figuratively a scale or shell upon the back of any Creature. The Shard-born Beetle means the Beetle that is born up by wings hard and glazed like a Pot-sheard.”

1753 blair

blair = han1 w/o attribution

3420 Shardes] Blair (ed. 1753, Glossary)

1760 John2

John2

3420 Shardes] Johnson (2nd ed. 1760, shard): “s. [schaerde, Frisick.] 1. A fragment of an earthen vessel. Shakespeare.”

1774-79? capn

capn

3420 Shardes] Capell (1779-83 [1774]:1:1:Glossary): “[Ant. 3.2.20 (1561) Pot-shards, Fragments of Pots or Tiles: also,the husky and glaz’d Shells or outer Wings of the Beetle. shard-born [Mac. Mac. 3.2.42 (1200)] born on Shards; sharded [Cym. 3.3.20 (1576)] wing’d with Shards; taking ‘Shards’ in it’s latter Signification.”

1793 v1793

v1793 ≈ capn

3420 Shardes] Ritson (apud Steevens, ed. 1793) : “i.e. broken pots or tiles, called pot-sherds , tile-sherds . So, in Job , ii. 8: “And he took him a potsherd , (i.e. a piece of a broken pot,) to scrape himself withal. RITSON “

1798 Tooke

Tooke

3420 Shardes] Tooke (2nd ed. 1798; rpt. 1968, 2:173-4): <p. 173> “Share, Shire, Scar, one and the same past participle, mean separated, divided. SHARE, any separated part or portion. SHIRE, a separated part or portion of this realm. And though we now apply SCAR only to a cictrix, or the remaining mark of a separation; it was formerly applied to any separated part.

“In the instance I produced to you from Gower, he calls it—’a little SKARE upon a banke that lets in the streame.’ So you will find in Ray’s North country words (pag. 52.) that what we now call Pot-sherds, or Pot-shards, are likewise called Pot-SCARS or Pot-SHREDS. You will find too, that where we now use SCAR, was formerly used SCORE, with the same meaning: </p. 173> <p. 174>as in Ray’s Proverbs (pag. 19.)—’Slander leaves a SCORE be-’hind it.’—So the ‘cliffe of a rocke’ (i.e. the cleaved part of it) as Ray informs us, is still called a ‘SCARRE.’ Douglas, we have seen, calls it—’ane SCHORE rolkis fyde.’” </p. 174>

1803 v1803

v1803 = v1793

3420 Shardes]

1813 v1813

v1813 = v1803

3420 Shardes]

1819 cald1

cald1 : Tooke

3420 Shardes] Caldecott (ed. 1819) : “Broken pieces of earthenware, pot-sherds, something shorn off. ‘Skærf , fragmen. Suio-Goth. testa. scherf . Belg. Angli f in d mutant. shardes of an earthen pot. fragmentum testæ ruptæ.’ Ihre’s Gloss. Suiog. Shards , scare, and shreds , are all derived, says Mr. Tooke, from the Sax. verb to divide or separate. Divers. of Purley, II. 173.: and consistently therewith, sheard , shard , and shern are used in the sense of fragment, shell, scale, or sheath, of insects’ wings, and dung. ‘A sharde , or broken piece of a tyle, Testa.’ Wythals’s shorte Dict. 4to. 1568, fo. 32, b. ‘Shardes , or pieces of stones, broken or shattered .’ Sub voce Rubble . Baret. Mr. Ritson cites Job, ii. 8: ‘And he took him a potsherd , (i.e. a piece of a broken pot,) to scrape himself withal.’

“In Baret it is also ‘the shell of an egg or snail.’ For this sense, or that of sheath and scale , see [Mac . 3.2.? (1200)] Macb.‘the shard-borne beetle.’

“Citing Drayton, as applicable to the last sense, ‘I scorn all earthly dung bred scarabies ,’ Idea, XXXI.

“Mr. Tollet states, that in the north of Staffordshire cowsherd is the word generally used for cow-dung. ‘The humble-bee taketh no scorn to loge on a cowe’s foule shard .’ A petite cow-sheards , are cheap fues, and last long,’ Bacon’s Nat. Hist. exp, p. 775; and Mr. Holt White adds, “how that nation, rising like the beetle from the cowshern , hurtleth against al things.’ A brief Discourse of the Spanish State, 1590, p. 3”

1821 v1821

v1821 = v1813

3420 Shardes]

v1821

3420 Shardes] Boswell (ed. 1821, 21:Glossary): “potsherds.”

1822 Nares

Nares : v1821 (Job // ; definition) ; capn?

3420 Shardes] Nares (1822; 1906): “s. A fragment of a pot or tile; hence potsherd, written potsheard, in the early editions of the Bible, Job, ii. 8. &c. From schaerde, Flemish, or [OE scearth], Saxon. [cites Ham.]

“Hence, probably from a fancied resemblance, the hard wing-cases of a beetle: ‘They are are his shards, and he their beetle.’ [Ant. 3.2. 20(1561)]. That is, they lift his sluggish body from the earth.

“Hence also, sharded, enclosed in shards: ‘And often, to our comforts she shall find, The sharded beetle in a safer hold Than is the full-winged eagle.’ [Cym 3.3.20 (1576)].

“Gower is quoted for sherded , in the sense of armed.

“Cowsherads appear to mean only the hard scales of dried cow-dung: [rev. & enl. 1876: “quite erroneous; see the next article.”[[ed. the new Nares editors add a § for shard as “dung, especially cow-dung”]]] ‘The humble-bee taketh no scorn to lodge in a cow’s foule shard. ‘Petite Palce of Pettie, &c. p. 165”

Nares : v1821 (Job // ; definition) ; capn?

3420 Shardes] Nares (1822; 1906): “Sheard]] s. The same as shard; written also sherd. [quotes Isaiah xxx.14/ Ezek. xxiii.34]”

1826 sing1

sing1 ≈ cald1

3420 Shardes] Singer (ed. 1826) : “Shards, quasi shreds (as Tooke says), the past participle of the verb [O.E. scyran], to sheer, cut off, or divide. It does not only mean fragments of pots and tiles,but rubbish of any kind. Baret has ‘shardes of stones, fragmentum lapidis;’ and ‘shardes, or pieces of stones broken and shattered, rubble or rubbish of old houses.’ Our version of the Bible has preserved to us potsherds; and I have heard bricklayers, in Surrey and Sussex, use the compounds tile-sherds, slate-sherds, &c.”

1832 cald2

cald2 = cald1

3420 Shardes]

1833 valpy

valpy ≈ standard

3420 Shardes] Valpy (ed. 1833): “Broken pots or tiles.”

1841 knt1 (nd)

knt1 ≈ cald1 ; sing1

3420 Shardes] Knight (ed. [1839]) : “A shard is a thing shared—divided. Shards are therefore fragments of ware—rubbish.”

1843 col1

col1: v1821 [ritson]

3420 Shardes] Collier (ed. 1843) : “i.e. (says Ritson) broken pots or tiles, called pot-sherds, tile-sherds.”

1856 hud1 (1851-6)

hud1 : sing1

3420 Shardes] Hudson (ed. 1856) : “Shards not only means fragments of pots and tiles, but rubbish of any kind. Baret has ‘shardes of stones, fragmentum lapidis;’ and ‘shardes , or pieces of stones broken and shattred, rubbel or rubbish of old houses.’ Our version of the Bible has preserved to us pot-sherds ; and bricklayers, in Surrey and Sussex, use the compounds tile-sherds, slate-sherds. The word is not in the quartos.—For , in the preceding line, has the force of instead of.”

1856b sing2

sing2 = sing1

3420 Shardes]

1857 elze1

elze1: Nares

3420 Shardes] Elze (ed. 1857): "Vgl. Nares s. Shards."

1858 col3

col3 = col1 +

3420 Shardes] Collier (ed. 1858) : “In [Ant. 3.2.20 (1561)], Shakespeare uses ‘shards’ for the outer wings of a beetle, perhaps from their hardness so called: in [Mac. 3.2.42 (1200)], he speaks of the ‘shard-borne betle,’ and in [Cym. 3.3.20 (1576)], he has ‘sharded beetle.’”

col3 : standard

3420 Shardes] Collier (ed. 1858, Glossary): “broken pottery.”

1864b ktly

ktly

3420 Shardes] Keightley (ed. 1864 [1866]: Glossary):”Shard-borne]] borne on shards or wings.”

1864 Bicker

Bickers : standard

3420 Shards] Clarke (ed. 1864, Glossary)

1868 c&mc

c&mc ≈ standard

3420 Shards] also see n. 3420

1865 hal

hal = cald2 [ending “Baret cites Job, ii.8.”]

3420 Shards]

1867 Ktly

Ktly : Nares? ; v1821?

3420 Shardes] Keightley (1867, p. 421): <p. 421> “a piece of broken pot, tile, etc. This word has also two other senses—namely, a piece of cow-dung, and a scale, the latter only in these lines of Gower: ‘He mighte noughte that serpent dere; He was scherded all aboute.’ Conf. Am. v. ‘She sigh her thought a dragon tho’’, Whose sherdes shinen as the sonne.’ Ib. vi. And it is a question in which of these senses Shakespeare understood shard ([Ant. 3.2.30 (1561)], Mac. 3.2.42 (1200), Cym. 3.3.20 (1576)] when speaking of the beetle. In the first ‘they were his shards and he their beetle,’ the cow-dung, though the beetle’s natal place, could hardly be meant, as he had then to do with only one shard; while supposing the wing-cases to be meant, the sense is plain: in the second ‘the shard-borne beetle’ is ambiguous; for born and borne were the same word: in the third, ‘the sharded beetle’ can only mean properly the beetle that has shards, and it is opposed to ‘the full-wing’d eagle.’ The fact, then,s eems to be that the poet took this word from Gower, and applied it to the wing-cases of the beetle, which he supposed to be the wings, a piece of ignorance in zoology not be wondered at in one who asserted ([MV.5.1.? (2518)]) that the nightingle does not sing by day.” </p. 421>

1869 stratmann

stratmann

3420 peebles] Stratmann(ed. 1869): “The modern editors, of course, adopt the reading of ‘pebbles’.”

Ed: Stratmann uses the Q2 reading of “peebles”

1869 tsch

tsch

3420 Tschischwitz (ed. 1869): “Die Steine scheinen beim Begräbniss des Selbstmörders, der sich ertränkte, characteristisch zu sein. War das Wasser ein Brunnen, so grub man nach deutschem Brrauch ihn ausserhalf des Hofes auf einem Berg oder an einem Wege ein, und setzte ihm drei Steine, den einen aufs Haupt, den andern auf den Leib, den dritten auf die Füsse. Auch hier ist Anklang an die Dreizahl vorhanden.” [“The stones seem to be characteristic at burials of the suicides who drowned themselves. The water was a spring, so man buried him according to German custom outside of the yard on a mountain or on a path, and placed three stones: one at the head, the other at the limb, the third at the foot. Even here there is an accordance to the number three.”]

1872 hud2

hud2 ≈ hud1(minus “Baret has . . . of old houses.’”)

3420 Shards]

1877 v1877

v1877 : col3?

3420 Shards] Furness (ed. 1877): “Fragments of broken tiles or pots. See [Mac. 3.2.42 (1200)].”

1881 hud3

hud3 = hud2

3420 Shards]

1882 elze2

elze2

3420 peebles] Elze (ed. 1882): “Apart from the present line pebble occurs six times in [F1]; three times it is spelt pibble, twice peeble, and once pebble. Greene, Dorastus and Fawnia (Shakespeare’s Library, ed. Hazlitt, I, IV, 34 and 62) spells it pibble and peable; Wyclif, Prov. XX, 17 (quoted by Skeat, Etymol. Dict., s. Pebble) writes pibbil-ston. This spelling of the word shows what its pronunciation was during the XIV., XV. and XVI, centuries. As far as I can see, this pronunciation has not been noticed by either Mr. Ellis, or Mr Sweet. Compare the pronunciation of pretty.”

1885 macd

macd ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1889 Barnett

Barnett : standard

3420 Shards] Barnett (1889, p. 61): <p. 61>“fragments of pottery, as in pot-sherd. Cf. ‘Shard-borne bettle’ in [Mac. 2.2.42 (1200)]. The wings of the beetle are hard, and shiny like shards.” </p. 61>

1891 oxf1

oxf1 : standard

3420 Shards] Craig (ed. 1891: Glossary): “sub. potsherds.”

1899 ard1

ard1 ≈ oxf1

3420 Shards]

1906 nlsn

nlsn: standard

3420 Shards] Neilson (ed. 1906, Glossary)

1931 crg1

crg1≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1934 Wilson

Wilson

3420 Shards] Wilson (1934, 2:248) characterizes the Q2 omission of this F1 variant as “certainly omitted.” </p. 248>

1934a cam3

cam3 : standard

3420 Shards] Wilson (ed. 1934, Glossary)

1938 parc

parc ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1939 kit2

kit2 ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

kit2 ≈ standard

3420 Shards] Kittredge (ed. 1939, Glossary):

1947 cln2

cln2 : standard

3420 Shards]

1951 alex

alex ≈ standard

3420 Shards] Alexander (ed. 1951, Glossary)

1951 crg2

crg2=crg1

3420 Shards]

1954 sis

sis ≈ standard

3420 Shards] Sisson (ed. 1954, Glossary):

1957 pel1

pel1 : standard

3420 Shards]

1970 pel2

pel2=pel1

3420 Shards]

1980 pen2

pen2 ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1982 ard2

ard2 ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1984 chal

chal : standard ; Q2 VN

3420 Shards]

chal : standard

3420 peebles] Wilkes (ed. 1984): “pebbles.”

1985 cam4

cam4 ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1987 oxf4

oxf4 ≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1992 fol2

fol2≈ standard

3420 Shards]

1993 dent

dent

3420 peebles] Andrews (ed. 1989): “pebbles.”