Bisse-Challoner crests on silver Coburg-pattern spoons - 200604

The

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in their mouth". As an adjective, "silver spoon" describes someone who has a prosperous background or is of a well-to-do family environment, often with the

connotation A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive ...

that the person does not fully realize or appreciate the value of his or her advantage, its having been inherited rather than earned.

Historical uses

Silver gilt strainer spoons marine beast hoxne treasure

Before the place setting became popular around the 18th century, people brought their own spoons to the table, carrying them in the same way that people today carry wallet and keys. In pre-modern times, ownership of a silver spoon was an indication of social class, denoting membership in the land-owning classes. In the Middle Ages, when farmers and craftsmen worked long hours and frequently got dirt under their fingernails, it was important to not be mistaken for a

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

or escaped

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. Under these circumstances, a silver spoon served the functional equivalent of passport, driving license, and credit card. Since most members of the land-owning classes were smallhold farmers and craftsmen, the silver spoon was primarily a lower-middle-class cultural marker.

History in print

The phrase "born with a silver spoon in his mouth" appeared in print in English as early as 1719, in Peter Anthony Motteux's translation of the novel ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'': "Mum, Teresa, quoth Sancho, 'tis not all Gold that glisters ic and every Man was not born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth." Because the phrase is used as a translation of a Spanish proverb with a different literal meaning ( es, muchas veces donde hay estacas no hay tocinos, literally: "often where there are hooks or hanging hamsthere are no hams"), it seems that the phrase was already considered proverbial in English at the time. The phrase next appears in a book of Scottish proverbs published in 1721, in the form "Every Man is no born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth."

Variants

There are similar expressions in other languages. For example, in Portuguese and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, an expression translated as "born in a gold cradle" is equivalent to the English, "born with a silver spoon". The term "gold spoon" is much less commonly used, but finds occasional use, such as the 1840 American

Gold Spoon Oration The Gold Spoon Oration, also called "The Regal Splendor of the President's Palace," was a political speech given in the US House of Representatives by Charles Ogle ( Whig- PA) on April 14–16, 1840. The speech reviled then-President Martin Va ...

criticizing then-president

Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...

for his supposedly luxurious lifestyle. In some languages, like Swedish and

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, the common expression is gold spoon rather than silver spoon, although both can be used. "

Silver fork novel Fashionable novels, also called silver-fork novels, were a 19th-century genre of English literature that depicted the lives of the upper class and the aristocracy. Era The silver-fork novels dominated the English literature market from the mid-182 ...

s" are described by English professor Paola Brunetti to her husband Guido, in

Donna Leon Donna Leon (; born in Montclair, New Jersey) is the American author of a series of crime novels set in Venice, Italy, featuring the fictional hero Commissario Guido Brunetti. In 2003, she received the Corine Literature Prize. Leon lived in Veni ...

's fourth Commissario Guido Brunetti novel ''Death and Judgment'' aka ''A Venetian Reckoning'' (1995), chapter 22, as "books written in the eighteenth century, when all that money poured into England from the colonies, and the fat wives of Yorkshire weavers had to be taught which fork to use".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Spoon English-language idioms Spoons Wealth concentration