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Time and tide waits for no man

Posted by Paul Hughes on February 17, 2005

Several messages in 2004 dealt with 'tidings' and the origin of the phrase 'time and tide waits for no man'. The phrase can clearly be traced to the sixteenth century John Skot's Everyman, where Death is speaking about certainty. At least one respondent refers to Chaucer, but the phrase is to be found in neither Troilus and Chrysede nor in the prologue to the Clerk's Tale (Anthony Burgess, The Riverside Chaucer). Can anyone give an earlier citation than Skot?

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