Language desk
< July 27	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 29 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 28

I'll be bound

Wiktionary gives "I'll be bound" as:

1. Phrase: "I am certain (that something is true)", and

2. Interjection: "(idiomatic) An expression of surprise."

But what is the origin? Is it the same for both uses? If have heard it suggested that the former originates from the Wesleyan/ Revivalist Christian phrase "I'll be bound for Glory" i.e. my soul is safe in the hereafter. But I am having difficulty finding any firm evidence for this. 81.154.245.185 (talk) 22:27, 28 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps from being bound over... AnonMoos (talk) 23:18, 28 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

What contributes to confusion here is that, to quote John Ayto's Dictionary of Word Origins (Bloomsbury 1990):

"English has no fewer than four separate words bound. The only one which goes back to Old English is the adjective, meaning 'obliged' or 'destined', which comes from the past participle of bind (in Old English this was bunden, which survives partially in 'bounden duty'). Next oldest is the adjective meaning 'going or intending to go' (13th century]. Originally meaning 'ready,' this was borrowed from Norse búinn, the past participle of búa 'prepare.' . . . . Virtually contemporary is the noun bound 'border, limit' [13th century]. It originally meant 'landmark,' and came via Anglo-Norman bounde from early Old French bodne. . . . Finally bound 'leap' [16th century] comes from Old French bondir . . . ."

With "four separate words", Ayto is not including the primary meaning of bound the past participle of bind, 'made fast by a tie', which (according to the OED) is a shortened form of bounden and which is, like bind, Old English. The OED itself has enormously more detail (far too much to repeat here) about these words and their various literal and metaphorical meanings.

The answer to the OP's query is to be found (after much searching) in the OED under 'Bind (verb),' whose meaning number 17 (out of 21) is subdivided into a–d, of which d reads:

colloquial. I dare, or will be bound: I undertake the responsibility of the statement, I feel certain. 1557 NORTH Gueuara's Diall Pr. (1862) 399 b, I dare be bound . . he shal not want infinit troubles. 1589 Theses Martinianæ Introd., Ile bee bounde hee shal not loose his labour. 1611 SHAKE. Cymb. IV.iii. 18, I dare be bound hee's true. 1773 GOLDSM. Stoops to Conq. v. ii., I'll be bound that no soul here can budge a foot to follow you. 1850 MRS STOWE Uncle Tom xxviii, You've been stealing something, I'll be bound.

So, the phrase is documented from the mid-16th century, although it will have been in verbal use earlier, perhaps considerably earlier, than that. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.123.24.56 (talk) 02:42, 29 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

So simply "I'll be tied to the veracity of this statement, i.e. I undertake responsibility for its truthfulness"? Does this also explain the interjection, or is there some element of minced oath with that one? Martinevans123 (talk) 09:24, 29 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yes to your first question. As for your second, I haven't managed to find a reference dealing specifically with the interjection usage: in fact I've never encountered it before now, either in conversation or in literature, unlike the first usage which is familiar, if now rather dated. I suspect it to be a euphemism for "I'll be bound for hell", or "I'll be buggered" (or both?), although a more literal meaning is also possible – consider the US expression "Well I'll be hog-tied", which I have heard and read in old cartoons and 'Western' novels. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230 195} 2.123.24.56 (talk) 13:46, 29 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I must admit it's the sort of phrase one might expect to hear from a Jules Verne or H. G. Wells character, or even from Dr. Watson who is, as we know, a debugger. Martinevans123 (talk) 13:58, 29 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The phrase appears repeatedly in the 1970 Fairport Convention song "Now Be Thankful": [1]. But I've always assumed the meaning here was past participle of bind i.e. "I'll be physically restrained". Martinevans123 (talk) 21:21, 29 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

It's similar in meaning to "I'll take my Alfred David" [affidavit], which is said by a character in a Charles Dickens novel. AnonMoos (talk) 03:46, 30 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think we both know Mr Riderhood. Martinevans123 (talk) 14:30, 1 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]