1/30/2024 0 Comments Beyond the pale![]() We Britons have the fear of shame before us,Īnd, if not wise in mirth, at least must be decorous. Given by the natives of that land canorous That lighten’d on Bandello’s laughing tale,Īnd twinkled with a lustre shrewd and sly, Scottish poet and novelist Walter Scott wrote the following in his work The Search after Happiness or The quest of Sultaun Solimaun: With hey the sweet birds, O how they sing.Īdditionally, the noun pale can mean a conceptual boundary, and one can leap the pale or break the pale by going beyond the accepted bounds. In the play The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare, the English poet and playwright writes the following song for Autolycus:įor the red blood raigns in y winters pale. The term pale was further expanded to refer to some sphere of activity or influence. The term Pale, also known as the Pale of Settlement from the Russian čerta osedlosti, refers to the provinces and disctrive in which Jews in Russia and Russian-occupied Poland were required to reside between 17. This territory varied in extent between the 12th and 16th centuries. This English territory of Ireland which includes parts of modern Dublin, Louth, county Meath, and Kildare. This pale also included the only part of Ireland under English jurisdiction. In these days, the English pale or English rule included the territory of Calais, or pale of Calais, which was an area of English jurisdiction and colonisation in France from 1347 to 1558 in the late Middle Ages, which was retained by England rulers after the end of the Hundred Years’ War from the late 1300s to 1453. This word comes from the pax/pac- meaning peace, the Latin pangere meaning to fic, and the Latin paciscere meaning to agree, as well as the Greek πηγνύναι or pegnunai, meaning to fix or make solid.įrom this more literal definition, the term pale began to refer to some enclosed place or territory or district within some determined bounds or that is subject to a particular jurisdiction. ![]() This comes from the classical Latin palus or Latin palum, which refers to the wooden post that was used by Roman soldiers during fighting practice to represent an opponent, but such stakes can generally refer to a boundary, limit, ditch or restriction. This word comes from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French pal which means some stake, palisade, or space enclosed by stakes. ![]() What is the origin of the term beyond the pale?Īccording to Word Histories, the word pale was first used in the late 14th century. Originally, this term referred to things that were outside the authority of English law. Something outside the pale or beyond the pale is outside the bounds of civilization, the limits of acceptable behaviour, the general sense of boundary, or good behavior. The pronunciation of pale is pail, but it has nothing to do with buckets. This authority is often held by one nation in another country, which suggests that anything outside their control was uncivilized. A pale can also refer to some jurisdiction under a certain given authority. A pale is a post or wooden stake that is joined with others to form a fence, or said wooden fence made of the stakes which are driven into the ground. What does is the meaning of the phrase beyond the pale?Īccording to Your Dictionary, the term beyond the pale is an idiom that describes behavior that is outside the bounds of morality, good behaviour or judgment.
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