phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

I hereby dub thee

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on July 20, 2007

In Reply to: I hereby dub thee posted by David FG on July 19, 2007

: : : "I hereby dub thee" - I`m not sure it can be counted as a phrase, but I do wanna know what does this means.

: : : =

: : "Dub" means to give a name or a title to someone. You never just dub a person, period; you dub the person *something*. You might dub your dog Spot. You might dub your little brother Nuisance of the Century, unless Spot has prior claim to that title. ~rb

:
: Probably commonest in the (apocryphal) phrase:

: 'I dub thee Knight. Arise, Sir John.'

: Supposedly said by the Queen/King when she/he creates a knight; though apparently she/he says no such thing.

: DFG


The verb "dub" comes from mediaeval French "adouber", the original meaning of which was "equip with armour". The earliest form of knighting ceremony simply entailed publicly dressing the new knight in the armour and weapons appropriate to his new status. (VSD)

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