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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Etymology of "metes"

Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that I read or heard some years ago has any basis in fact. The word mete means not only to measure, as in the phrase "metes and bounds" used in property descriptions, but also to allot, or dole out, as in the phrase to mete out punishment. The supposed connection between the two meanings derives from a reputed practice where literacy was rare (and mapmaking inaccurate) of taking the youngest child of a village to the points that mark the outline of a piece of property and beating him soundly at each one.

That is, at each marker a tree, a large boulder, etc. punishment would be meted out to the child. Consequently, he would keep a vivid recollection of the places of pain and punishment throughout his life and, so the theory went be a reliable witness to the location of the boundaries of property in the village. Being the youngest, he would be able to testify to the location of the markers for a longer period of time than the older villagers who would probably have died before him.
One example may lend some credence to this theory: Almost everyone remembers where they were, and what they were doing when JFK was assassinated, or when the Twin Towers were attacked: terrible events that remain in one's memory for years. (I must add that my memory of this etymology antedates Kennedy's assassination, so it's not a case of post hoc, ergo propter hoc.)
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that I read or heard some years ago has any basis ... [/nq] I found this one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever heard. But ...

  • [nq:1]Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that I read or heard some years ago has any basis ...
  • [/nq] I found this one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever heard.
  • But ...
  • in a Google search for refutation (using "beating " after a bit of experimenting with other phrases), I found quite a bit of what looks like solid confirmation.
  • Apparently the usual practice was to take several boys along on a tour of the boundary stones, and the boys would beat each stone with a symbolic rod or tree branch.
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40 Answers
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[nq:1]Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that I read or heard some years ago has any basis ... of the markers for a longer period of time than the older villagers who would probably have died before him.[/nq]
I found this one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever heard. But ... in a Google search for refutation (using "beating " after a bit of experimenting with other phrases), I
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[nq:2]Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that ... the older villagers who would probably have died before him.[/nq]
[nq:1]I found this one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever heard. But ... in a Google search for refutation ... a tour of the boundary stones, and the boys would beat each stone with a symbolic rod or tree branch.[/nq]
But that "they went forth to symbolically
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[nq:1]But that "they went forth to symbolically hit each boundary stone with a stick" sounds like folk etymology to me.[/nq]
It did to me as well. But I found a lot of reputable sources repeating it in all seriousness, and with just enough variation to suggest they weren't all aping each other. I found nothing at Snopes.com.
[nq:1]The ritual may have descended to that, but I'm willing to b
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[nq:1]I found this one of the most ridiculous things I'd ever heard. But ... in a Google search for refutation (using "beating " after a bit of experimenting with other phrases), I found quite a bit of what looks like solid confirmation.[/nq]
MWCD11 seems to opine that the words are unrelated.

Their oldest sense of the word "mete", which they derive

Middle English, from Old E
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[nq:1]Can anyone tell me if the etymology of "metes," that I read or heard some years ago has any basis in fact.[/nq]
OED tells us it is from French
(a. OF. mete, mette, ad. L. mUta goal, boundary.)
2. A boundary or limit (material or immaterial); a boundary stone ormark; esp. in phrase metes and bounds (= AF. metes et boundes (1325 in Rolls Parlt. I. 434/2)), common in legal use; also
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[nq:2]But that "they went forth to symbolically hit each boundary stone with a stick" sounds like folk etymology to me.[/nq]
[nq:1]It did to me as well. But I found a lot of reputable sources repeating it in all seriousness, and with just enough variation to suggest they weren't all aping each other. I found nothing at Snopes.com.[/nq]
Not sure if I'm reading your scepticism correctly but
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[nq:2] It did to me as well. But ... weren't all aping each other. I found nothing at Snopes.com.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not sure if I'm reading your scepticism correctly but beating the bounds still happens in Oxford. I was going to describe the ritual from a spectator's viewpoint but then found a description by a participant at http
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[nq:2] It did to me as well. But ... weren't all aping each other. I found nothing at Snopes.com.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not sure if I'm reading your scepticism correctly but beating the bounds still happens in Oxford. I was going to describe the ritual from a spectator's viewpoint but then found a description by a participant at http
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[nq:2]Not sure if I'm reading your scepticism correctly but beating ... but then found a description by a participant at http://www.j-paine.org/bb.html.[/nq]
[nq:1]If all Jocelyn was wearing was sub-fusc and a hood I'm not surprised someone shouted '******'.[/nq]
I was under the impression that subfusc referred to
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[nq:2]But that "they went forth to symbolically hit each boundary stone with a stick" sounds like folk etymology to me.[/nq]
[nq:2]Logically, if you wanted to beat/re-form boundaries by walking over ... have developed, but I'll bet "beating/forming the path" came first.[/nq]
[nq:1]Maybe so. I'm not totally persuaded either way. Perhaps Ben Zimmer will, as he so often does, find the definit

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