[LINK] DNA Coil

[Ivan Trundle]

On 26/09/2006, at 3:46 AM, Karl Auer wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-09-25 at 17:15 +0000, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
>>>  'mortal coil' and the bustle of life. Even back then, life was  
>>> busy ..
>>
>> this mortal coil [from Shakes. Hamlet.] the turmoil of life.
>>
>> so along with the bustle and turmoil of life, I'd submit 'energy  
>> of life'.
>
> How odd. Reading those words I have always visualised people trudging
> around and around in a widening spiral, moving ever further from their
> starting point and yet somehow never getting that far from it, till  
> they
> finally shuffle off the "mortal coil" into oblivion... circularity,  
> but
> with progress toward the void. "Coil" meaning a turmoil or a tumult is
> completely unsatisfying in context.
>
> I'd like to see some *other* references, not just to Shakespeare. Did
> anyone else, particularly any contemporary of Shakespeare, use the  
> word
> to mean "turmoil of life"?

A bit difficult, if only because Shakespeare was THE master of this  
art, at a time when English was not spoken (or written) that widely  
in England. Shakespeare's contribution to the language was  
significant, if only because he saw fit to use words in ways which  
most other writers of his day would not have dreamt of. Chaucer,  
Keats et al were never as adventurous.

> There's a problem with quoting Shakespeare for the meanings of  
> words, as
> he took rather a Through-The-Looking-Glass approach to a lot of  
> them. If
> he's the only and thus canonical reference...

You might find Bill Bryson's 'Mother Tongue' an interesting read...

Warmly

iT


--
Ivan Trundle
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