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The act of 'pillorying' someone (to ridicule or mock publicly) began with very literal origins: it was the word for a board with holes cut out, where a prisoner's head and hands stuck through and locked in public.
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The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, used during the medieval and renaissance periods for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. [1]
Pillory, an instrument of corporal punishment consisting of a wooden post and frame fixed on a platform raised several feet from the ground. The head and hands of the offender were thrust through holes in the frame (as were the feet in the stocks) so as to be held fast and exposed in front of it.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jun 12, 2020 · pillory (n.) "frame of wood erected on a post or pole with holes into which were put the head and hands of an offender who was thus exposed for public derision and abuse," mid-14c., pillorie (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 12c., in surnames from mid-13c.), from Old French pilori "pillory" (mid-12c.), which is related to Medieval Latin ...
The earliest known use of the noun pillory is in the Middle English period (1150—1500). OED's earliest evidence for pillory is from around 1330. pillory is a borrowing from French.
Jun 11, 2018 · Recorded from Middle English, the word comes from Old French pilori, and probably from Provençal espilori (associated by some with a Catalan word meaning ‘peephole’, of uncertain origin). The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES
Where does the verb pillory come from? Earliest known use. late 1500s. The earliest known use of the verb pillory is in the late 1500s. OED's earliest evidence for pillory is from before 1600, in the writing of I. T. It is also recorded as a noun from the Middle English period (1150—1500).
