shrift
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- Senior Lexiterian
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shrift
OK, I know this word has been recommended previously. I have two simple questions. Is it ONLY used in conjunction with "short" now? Also, I am a bit confused about its origin. Did ancient German borrow this from Latin or is this of strictly German origin? I confess that I do not know for certain.
William A. Hupy
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: shrift
The origin of shrift goes back to the Latin "scriber" meaning to write. It moved into German and took the meaning of to impose penance, as if the priest had written a prescription: “Recite five Hail-Marys every day for a week.” Soon it came to mean penance for sin. Coming into English it was first used in the late 1500s in the phrase “short shrift”. The short shrift was the short time a condemned criminal was allowed so he could confess and do penance before being executed. By the 1800s it had been secularized and meant what it does today, given little consideration. Short shrift is about the only way it is used. However there are several derivative or sister words that appear in liturgical language.
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