# What is the earliest use of the phrase "Don't kill the messenger?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693 "2013-03-01T02:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/1 "2013-03-01T02:44:37Z")
I am not asking for “What does it mean?” or “When and how did the concept originate?” The internet is full of the same answers to them. I am looking for the earliest, published example of the specific phrase, and the SDMB has the top men and women for it, with the top tools for finding it. Thank you in advance for your help. A floor supervisor has given me the task of finding the origin, and I would like to deluge her with data so she never asks me to do that again. At a different job, where I could use the innertubes (the funny thing is that, and some customer or other reminds me of the irony daily, I sell internet services), I’d have three pages of intensely boring text in her hands in a few minutes, and for most topics I could still do it from home, but this is a harder nut to crack because nobody seems to have done it before AND put it in Google-able form. Again, I thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/2 "2013-03-01T02:55:50Z")
[Shooting the Messenger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_the_messenger) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/3 "2013-03-01T04:33:06Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > [Shooting the Messenger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_the_messenger) > [@dropzone](#): > > I am not asking for “What does it mean?” or “When and how did the concept originate?” The internet is full of the same answers to them. But thanks for playing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/4 "2013-03-01T08:11:26Z")
Shakespeare? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/5 "2013-03-01T08:21:54Z")
Maybe Aesop? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/6 "2013-03-01T09:19:34Z")
[Here’s something](http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/3/messages/520.html) on a site devoted to English phrases. I found the site by Googling “dictionary of phrases.” There are probably other reference sites that trace the origin of the phrase - this is just the first one I found. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/7 "2013-03-01T11:48:01Z")
According to [Google Ngrams](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=don%27t+kill+the+messenger&year_start=1600&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=) (don’t know how complete their coverage is claimed to be) it doesn’t show up as a phrase until the 1970s. Interestingly, “shoot the messenger” came up as early as the 1820s, but that only literally - that is, in news reports describing the untimely death of a hapless letter-bearer. Which I don’t think counts for these purposes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/8 "2013-03-01T11:54:33Z")
The guy who told Pharoah the Jews were escaping. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/9 "2013-03-01T12:44:14Z")
Sophocles is full of scenes wherein tyrants such as Oedipus terrify messengers for bringing them bad news, and where they beg not to be killed for conveying the bad news. I wouldn;t be surprised if there were some lines in an ancient Greek tragedy spoken by the messenger saying something like “Please don’t kill me, I’m merely the messenger.” Would that count? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/10 "2013-03-01T13:49:59Z")
Other that finding that Ancient cite, **Stanislaus** has it about right. The phrase starts being used in the US press about 1968. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/11 "2013-03-01T14:08:22Z")
Mercury was delivering flowers, from an anonymous lover, to Venus when Mars came by in a bad mood; it all went downhill from there. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/12 "2013-03-02T03:04:58Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > According to [Google Ngrams](http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=don%27t+kill+the+messenger&year_start=1600&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=) (don’t know how complete their coverage is claimed to be) it doesn’t show up as a phrase until the 1970s. That is wicked cool and the only thing better that reams of data is a chart! And this is a chart with pages of explanation and more charts! She’ll hate this! Thank you very much. She’s convinced that the phrase–not the sentiment–is ancient. Sure, I can tell of Lucullus and Tigranes, with a side trip through the Mithridatic Wars, but I’m suddenly and uncharacteristically ambitious to be her boss and I don’t wish to seem ungracious. **PRR** , the closest Sophocles got was apparently “No one loves the messenger who brings bad news,” which is in the Wikipedia entry. And guys, I’m hurt that so many assumed I didn’t do [del]the most-basic[/del] intensive scholarly research before asking for help, even going to _the second page_ of Google results. The people of the SDMB taught me a long time ago that, by not doing so, I left myself open to a trip to [http://lmgtfy.com/](http://lmgtfy.com/). It’s interesting that “Don’t shoot the piano player; he’s doing the best he can,” is 108 years _older._ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/13 "2013-03-02T03:10:41Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > Mercury was delivering flowers, from an anonymous lover, to Venus when Mars came by in a bad mood; it all went downhill from there. Downhill? You mean Vulcan heard about it, too? That would be a mess. The Greco-Roman gods were so much fun, I can’t imagine how Christianity caught on. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/14 "2013-03-02T05:46:04Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > But thanks for playing. 🙂 The Wiki artile says it’s first used by Shakespeare, although it’s more complicated than that. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/15 "2013-03-02T07:28:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The guy who told Pharoah the Jews were escaping. Actually, there is a scene in Shakespeare’s _Antony and Cleopatra_ where, i think, Cleopatra tells a Messenger he will die if he brings news that any harm had come to Antony. Perhaps this is the scene **The Niply Elder** was thinking of. Other plays have similar ideas. I just thought the Pharoah connection was cute. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-earliest-use-of-the-phrase-dont-kill-the-messenger/651693/16 "2013-03-02T07:31:52Z")
Hey, I was right! Gotta read the damn cites.