I just used the expression “Look on me and weep” and can’t remember if that phrase as a whole is from somewhere, and if not, the “look on me” part; I suspect from a portion of Passion literature. Any ideas?
[FTR, it was in forwarding a letter to some sympathetic friends from a hatter about whether cole slaw stains could be removed from a 100X beaver Optimo fedora with less than a week’s experience on my delighted head.]
From this:
The specific quote being:
Huh. Thanks.
My mis-memory that it was from a Passion translation or something clearly fits in with Shelley’s illocution, coupled as it is with “king of kings,” a construction unique to Hebrew (and perhaps other Semitic languages), and certainly unique in English from the Bible. So I still am wondering if it appears in any other place in historical, archaic English, our truly is Shelley’s coinage, a quite extraordinary poetic moment how a teeny preposition change can work as a “synonym” but be so profound.
[ETA: I was expecting at least some words of comfort about my hat, even though I said it was merely FTR. Heartless bastards…]
Use Google Ngram. There are lots of examples from the 1500’s. Here’s one:
Investigate “look upon …” You’ll find a lot more, and I’ll wager, earlier.