The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.0844  Sunday, 1 May 2005

[1]     From:   Tony Burton <
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        Date:   Friday, 29 Apr 2005 12:21:12 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'

[2]     From:   Tony Burton <
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        Date:   Friday, 29 Apr 2005 12:21:12 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Tony Burton <
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Date:           Friday, 29 Apr 2005 12:21:12 -0400
Subject: 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'
Comment:        Re: SHK 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'

Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang, etc. was the groundbreaking work
which had entries for unprintable vulgarities, using the coy style,
"f*ck" and "c*nt," to moderate the offensiveness.  In it, he defines
"condom" under "cundum," as a ca. 1665-1880 "form of safety sheath . .
.ex the name of its deviser, a colonel of the Guards.  In 1667 those
three aristocratic courtiers, wits and poets, Rochester, Roscommon and
Dorset, issued *A Panegyric upon Cundum.*"  He gives the word's origin
in light of Gose's late 18th to early 19th c. usages, "A false scabbard
over a sword", and "The oilskin case for holding the colours of a regiment."

Subject to the discovery of a 17th century Colonel Quondam in the
Guards, Partridge's explanation leaves that alternate line of inquiry
distinctly unpromising.

Lubriciously,
Tony Burton

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Kris McDermott <
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Date:           Friday, 29 Apr 2005 12:06:01 -0400
Subject: 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'
Comment:        RE: SHK 16.0837 Martin Green on 'Quondam'

This has nothing to do with quondam/condom, but surely a reference to a
"quondam king" must glance at Malory's assertion that the inscription on
King Arthur's tomb reads "Rex quondam rexque futuris".

Kris McDermott
Central Michigan University

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