Mad as a March hare

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This article is about the English idiom. For the poetry festival, see March Hare (festival), or for Lewis Carroll's character, see March Hare.
European Hare

To be as "mad as a March hare" is an English idiomatic phrase derived from the observed antics, said to occur (incorrectly)[1] only in the March breeding season of the Hare, genus Lepus. The phrase is an allusion that can be used to refer to any other animal or human who behaves in the excitable and unpredictable manner of a "March hare".[2]

'As Mad as a March Hare' first appeared in Chaucer's "Friar's Tale" in the late 14th century. A later recorded use of the phrase occurs in the writings of Sir Thomas More.

[edit] Historical development of the idiom

The March Hare and friends from Alice in Wonderland

A long-held view is that the hare will behave strangely and excitedly throughout its breeding season, which in Europe is the month of March (but which in fact extends over several months beyond March). This odd behaviour includes: boxing at other hares, jumping vertically for seemingly no reason and generally displaying abnormal behaviour.[3] An early verbal record of this animal's strange behaviour occurred in about 1500, in the poem Blowbol's Test[4] where the original poet said:

Thanne [th]ey begyn to swere and to stare, And be as braynles as a Marshe hare
(Then they begin to swerve and to stare, And be as brainless as a March hare)

One use of the phrase itself appears to have occurred in 1529 when Sir Thomas More wrote in his text, The supplycacyon of soulys made by syr Thomas More knyght councellour to our souerayn lorde the Kynge and chauncellour of hys Duchy of Lancaster. Agaynst the supplycacyon of beggars.[5]

As mad not as a March hare, but as a madde dogge.[3]

Whilst the phrase in general has been in continuous use since the 16th century,[3] it was popularised in more recent times by Lewis Carroll in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which has the March Hare as one of its main characters (along with the Mad Hatter).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Search Wiktionary Look up March hare in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. ^ "Dylan Winter – Irish Hare". BBC Radio 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/sharedearth_20070209.shtml. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  2. ^ "Mad as a March hare". UsingEnglish.com. http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/mad+as+a+march+hare.html. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  3. ^ a b c "As mad as a March hare". Phrase Finder. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/42400.html. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
  4. ^ first printed by W. C. Hazlitt 1864, Remains of Early Popular Poetry of England
  5. ^ "Early English Books Online". Text Creation Partnership. http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/proj_des/pd_more.html. Retrieved 2007-04-14. 
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