The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1561  Monday, 19 September 2005

[1] 	From: 	Scot Zarela <
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	Date: 	Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 11:10:06 -0700
	Subj: 	Re; SHK 16.1538 ducdame

[2] 	From: 	JD Markel <
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	Date: 	Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 16:22:53 -0700 (PDT)
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1538 ducdame


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Scot Zarela <
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Date: 		Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 11:10:06 -0700
Subject: 16.1538 ducdame
Comment: 	Re; SHK 16.1538 ducdame

For years I thought of it as a word of three syllables, fitting the 
meter of "Come hither", until I realized (hello-o!) that "ducdame", 
meant to be a peddler's cry, can very well be a two-syllable word if 
simply spoken, with the second syllable verb (taken as a long a sound) 
lengthened vocally until it equals the quantity of two syllables, as one 
commonly does whether singing or making a cry in the street --- in this 
case to call fools in a ring, that is, to gather a crowd of idlers.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		JD Markel <
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Date: 		Sunday, 18 Sep 2005 16:22:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 16.1538 ducdame
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1538 ducdame

Peter writes:

"Donovan did a great version of the song on 'A Gift From a Flower To a 
Garden' (1968).  He pronounced it 'doosk-dame'."

Which song was it?  `Wear Your Love Like Heaven' has some strange 
verbiage, but I think your "doosk-dame" comes from another song in the 
album.

D Bloom writes:

"The word is so obscure (perhaps nonsensical) that you can pronounce it 
any way you like."

Let's try it in Latin.  `Duc' is the present imperitive active 2d 
singular of duco, the command "draw together" or "bring" "lead."  Like 
`duc' `da' has only one possible declension, and the same as duc's - 
pres. imper. active second singular -  of `Do.'   Da would command "hand 
over" "give up" "render" "surrender" "pay" etc.  So `ducdame' could mean 
something akin to a command "draw together and (sur)render to me." 
Mere "coincidence" this translation nears "come hither" and declined the 
same?  This would not be a "Greek invocation" but S had "lesse Greek". ;-)

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