CHAT: Shrive (was CHAT: Return of the Sal)

Raymond Brown wrote:

> [intransitive]  'to to receive abosolution' or 'to make confession'.
This sense surprises me, though Merriam-Webster backs you up; I have
only seen "to be shriven" in this sense, as in Shakespeare.  Spenser
(the poet) used "shrive" intransitively in the non-specific sense
"to hear confessions".

"Shrive" and "Shriver" are also known surnames.

> The related noun 'Shrove' is more well known in the phrase 'Shrove
> Tuesday', the day before 'Ash Wednesday' which begin Lent; the day the
> French call 'Mardi gras'.  After the perod of carnival which preceded Lent
> one got oneself shriven before the day was out in order to keep Lent from
> the next day on until Easter.
The traditional English meal on Shrove Tuesday was pancakes, perhaps to
consume the eggs that were once forbidden food during Lent.

--

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)