giving quarter

[Michael Baum]

>From Thursday, March 29, 2001, 5:57:32 PM:

j> Indeed. The term "quarter" in this usage refers to "exemption from death
j> upon surrender." (Brewer's)

j> _Collins_ has:

j> quarter n. 16. mercy or pity, as shown to a defeated opponent (esp. in the
j> phrases "ask for" or "give quarter".)

The derivation and mutation of words and idioms is something about
which I know almost nothing, but having made that disclaimer I'm
inclined to wonder if this old usage of "quarter" in the sense of
"mercy" is at all related to and perhaps corrupted from "misericorde".

The second half of the word could be pronounced not unlike an archaic
pronounciation of "quarter" and of course it directly derives from the
Latin for "mercy". If memory serves it means variously a little
projection on the bottom of a folding church seat to lean against when
you're standing during a long service, a long thinnish dagger (the
better to penetrate chainmail)used to mercifully dispatch a mortally
wounded knight on the battlefield, and (in medieval monastic orders) a
sanctioned relaxation of a rule for cause, such as exempting an ill
monk from the Office.

Just a thought.

maab