Meaning & Analysis
Refers to a folk superstition where a newborn male child was wrapped in his mother's smock (shift or undergarment) to ensure he would be lucky and well-loved, particularly by women.
Insights
Innate Fortune
Symbolizes being born with inherent good fortune or a destiny for success. This luck is not earned but is an intrinsic quality bestowed at birth, akin to being a 'darling of Fortune'.
Natural Charm
Specifically suggests possessing a natural, almost magical, charm and attractiveness, especially towards the opposite sex. The individual effortlessly wins affection and favor.
Maternal Favor
The 'mother's smock' implies being a special favorite, blessed with a protective, almost maternal, shield of good luck throughout life. It suggests being coddled by fate.
Unearned Privilege
Highlights the concept of unearned privilege or advantage. Like being born into wealth ('silver spoon'), this person enjoys benefits without effort, stemming from the circumstances of their birth.
Folk Magic and Superstition
The proverb originates from a specific folk-magic belief, where a physical object (the mother's smock) was used in a ritual to transfer a desired quality (luck, charm) to a child. This reflects a pre-scientific worldview where destiny could be influenced by symbolic actions at birth.
Gender Dynamics
The proverb reveals historical gender assumptions, linking a man's good fortune specifically to his favor with women. The maternal, feminine source of the luck (the smock) reinforces a worldview where female influence, whether maternal or romantic, is a primary source of a man's success and social standing.
Evolution of Idioms
This proverb is an archaic precursor to more modern idioms like 'born with a silver spoon in his mouth'. While the 'smock' suggests luck in love and social favor, the 'silver spoon' points more directly to inherited wealth, showing a cultural shift in what constitutes the ultimate form of innate advantage.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The 'mother's smock' is a potent symbol of intimacy, protection, and maternal favor. It transforms a mundane article of clothing into a magical talisman conferring lifelong luck.
Metonymy
The act of being 'wrapped in a smock' serves as metonymy for the state of being perpetually fortunate and beloved. The cause (the supposed ritual) stands in for the effect (a charmed life).
Material Symbolism
The use of a 'smock,' a soft, intimate, and domestic garment, grounds the abstract concept of 'luck' in a tangible, familiar object, making the idea more vivid and memorable.
Transcription
Quotations
This was my fathers craft, for he euer made my Mother to wrap mee in her smocke.
How should I be vsed: but as one that was wrapt in his mothers smock when hee was borne.
I thinke (as the prouerbe goes) I was wrapt in my Mothers smocke the day I was begotten, I thank the Goddesse Cupid for it, I am so fauourd of the Women my hostes loues me execrably.
Hum, is that the most fortunate, spider catching, smocke wrapt Gentleman?
To be born in Jupiter's lap, viz. to be a favourite; the English say, to have been wrap'd up in Fortunes smock.
Sure I was born with a Caul on my Head, and wrapt in my Mothers Smock the Ladies do so love me.
(Fortunes darling; he was lapt in).
Lap'd in your Mother's Smock.
He was wrap'd in his Mother's Sark Tail.
Indeed, miss, I believe you were wrapt in your mother's smock, you are so well beloved.
Cross References
Annotations
- The Scots have a superstitious Custom of receiving a Child, when it comes to the World, in its Mother's Shift, if a Male; believing that this Usage will make him well-beloved among Women.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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