Does the phrase "Pride and Prejudice" pre-date the Jane Austen novel (1813) of that title? Was the author using a pre-existing expression? Does anyone have any information?
Yes, and and yes. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3558295/How-Pride-And-Prejudice-got-its-name.html
Well discovered, Dave! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! But of course, this begs the question: was the expression new to Fanny Burney in 1782? You see the actual contiguous words "pride and prejudice" occur in Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" (1776), not really as an expression; but simply, so to speak, in the flow of his text. It seemed unlikely to me that this could have been Austen's source but I knew of no other; now I am sure the Telegraph explanation is correct. So did Fanny Burney take the words from the recent bestseller by Thomas Paine? And who is to say that they were original to Paine anyway? Any suggestions?
When in doubt, assume that Shakespeare said it first. Or at least he was often the first to write it down.
