To be as "mad as a March hare" is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

idiom An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language ...

atic phrase derived from the observed antics, said to occur only in the March

breeding season Seasonal breeders are animal species that successfully mate only during certain times of the year. These times of year allow for the optimization of survival of young due to factors such as ambient temperature, food and water availability, and ch ...

of the

European hare The European hare (''Lepus europaeus''), also known as the brown hare, is a species of hare native to Europe and parts of Asia. It is among the largest hare species and is adapted to temperate, open country. Hares are herbivorous and feed mainly ...

(''Lepus europaeus''). The phrase is an allusion that can be used to refer to any other animal or human who behaves in the excitable and unpredictable manner of a March hare.

Historical development of the idiom

A long-held view is that the hare will behave strangely and excitedly throughout its breeding season, which in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

peaks in the month of March. This odd behaviour includes boxing at other hares, jumping vertically for seemingly no reason and generally displaying abnormal behaviour. An early verbal record of this animal's strange behaviour occurred in about 1500, in the poem ''Blowbol's Test''First printed by W. C. Hazlitt in 1864, ''Remains of Early Popular Poetry of England'' where the original poet said: :''e'' :(Then they begin to swerve and to stare, And be as brainless as a March hare) Similar phrases are attested in the sixteenth century in the works of John Skelton (''Replycacion'', 1528: "Aiii, I saye, thou madde Marche Hare"; ''Magnyfycence'', 1529: "As mery as a marche hare"). A later recorded use of the phrase occurs in the writings of

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lor ...

(': "." Although the phrase in general has been in continuous use since the 16th century, it was popularised in more recent times by

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

in his 1865 children's book ''

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...

,'' in which the March Hare is a character.

References

External links

{{wiktionary, March hare
BBC Nature page with videosBoxing hares videos
English-language idioms Metaphors referring to animals 16th-century neologisms

Historical development of the idiom

See also

References

External links