Cloak and dagger
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"Cloak and dagger" was a fighting style common by the time of the Renaissance involving a knife hidden beneath a cloak. The term later came into use as a metaphor, referring to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery.
Overview
[edit]The earliest written use of the phrase can be attributed to English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in "The Knight's Tale", published around 1400.[1]
The metaphorical meaning of the phrase dates from the early 19th century. It is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée[2] and Spanish de capa y espada ("of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of swashbuckler drama in which the main characters wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón – a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" in his work Barnaby Rudge a year later as a sarcastic reference to this style of drama.[3]
The imagery of the two items became associated with the archetypal spy or assassin: the cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.[citation needed]
References
[edit]- ↑ Chaucer, Geoffrey. "1.2 The Knight's Tale". Harvard's Geoffrey Chaucer Website. Harvard. Line 1999. Archived (Internet Archive) from the original on 2024-12-31. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
The smylere with the knyf under the cloke;
[The smiler with the knife under the cloak;] - ↑ "Cloak and dagger". Oxford English Dictionary. March 2024 [1891]. doi:10.1093/OED/1005727492. Retrieved 2025-01-10.
- ↑ Dickens, Charles (1841). Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. London: Chapman & Hall. p. 203. ISBN 0-14-043728-2.
...his servant brought in a very small scrap of dirty paper, tightly sealed in two places, on the inside whereof was inscribed in pretty large text these words: A friend. Desiring of a conference. Immediate. Private. Burn it when you've read it. "Where in the name of the Gunpowder Plot did you pick up this?" said his master. "It was given him by a person then waiting at the door", the man replied. "With a cloak and dagger?" said Mr Chester.
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