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I have always used the former, both as an idiom (to be severely punished, often used as a superlative in jest) and in reference to the historical form of capital punishment. I have always used hanged when referring to capital punishment.

To be hanged, drawn and quartered sounds wrong to me (it may be useful to note here that I am from the UK), however, logically, I see that it should grammatically be correct, and is indeed the heading of the Wiki article on the topic.

Have I been wrong all these years saying hung, drawn and quartered?

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martin
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  • I find the first more idiomatic. "Hanged" I associate only the the phrase "to be hanged by the neck until dead" (and then only when mimicking legalese), and for all other uses I would expect "hung". Ie, "hanged" is archaic (in the US, at least). – Hot Licks Dec 01 '15 at 20:10
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    @HotLicks I was told on multiple occasions during my youth, by schoolteachers, that the past of hang (meaning execution) was hanged. We were reprimanded for saying hung although it was in popular parlance. We were informed that hung referred to the process of hanging game birds like pheasants to mature. However hung, drawn and quartered is idiomatic. There is a pub on Tower Hill in London (next to the Tower of London) which is called (only for the amusement of tourists I feel sure) The Hung, Drawn and Quartered. There is a popular UK expression He's the biggest rogue unhung!. – WS2 Dec 01 '15 at 20:20
  • The Hung Drawn and Quartered. – WS2 Dec 01 '15 at 20:24
  • @WS2 - You went to a rougher school than I. I don't ever recall schoolteachers discussing hangings, until maybe some history classes in the 8th-9th grade. – Hot Licks Dec 01 '15 at 20:25
  • @HotLicks Well I'm talking of secondary school - around about age 13 -16. This was the 1950s and one couldn't avoid hangings. They still hanged people and it was in the papers and on the news. The last execution in Britain was in 1962. – WS2 Dec 01 '15 at 20:28
  • @WS2 - It simply wasn't discussed in US schools. By the mid 50s most states had replaced hanging with electrocution or the gas chamber, and even that wasn't discussed as a "current event" (no pun intended). There are some things you don't talk about. – Hot Licks Dec 01 '15 at 20:31
  • @HotLicks in the US is it "hung, drawn and fourthed"? ;) – martin Dec 01 '15 at 20:36
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    @HotLicks this is the Wiki entry on the Craig and Bentley murder case. It involved two teenage boys and the death of a policeman. It happened in 1952 when I was 8 yrs old. I remember in great detail the endless discussions about it. It probably did more than anything else to bring about abolition in Britain. But my point is that the subject simply could not be avoided. – WS2 Dec 01 '15 at 20:57
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    @martin - No, it's "hung, drawn, and divided into four equal segments amounting to 25% of body mass each." (To my knowledge, drawing and quartering has not been done in North America since the Salem witchcraft era ca 1700.) – Hot Licks Dec 01 '15 at 21:07
  • @HotLicks as I thought! We were late in the UK (1870, apparently) - as always ;) – martin Dec 01 '15 at 21:18
  • Isn't it "hangen, drawed and quarten"? – user56reinstatemonica8 Dec 01 '15 at 21:31
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    @martin The last person hanged, drawn and quartered in Britain was David Tyrie in 1782. And what's all this rubbish about us always being late? On most major social reforms, in the English-speaking world, Britain has led the way, from abolition of slavery (1832), to abolition of capital punishment (1966) - last person hanged (1962). – WS2 Dec 01 '15 at 21:37
  • @WS2 Ah, abolished 1870 as opposed to last case 1782 - rather analagous to capital punishment for treason I assume. Fascinating article on Craig and Bentley BTW:) – martin Dec 01 '15 at 21:59

4 Answers4

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Both versions are used, according to the Phrase Finder the 'hung' version is more colloquial:

  • This grisly phrase is the proper name for the death sentence which is often colloquially called hung, drawn and quartered.

  • This describes a form of execution used in England from the 13th century until 1790. The sentence was given to others after that date but not carried out. Hanged, drawn and quartered was the punishment for traitors, that is, men who committed treason, that is, the violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state. Women traitors were burned at the stake. The punishment was most often meted out for High Treason - acts of betrayal, or actual or attempted murder of the sovereign (regicide).

  • The casual manner in which people approached these grim spectacles is indicated by the entry in Samuel Pepys' Diary for 13th October 1660:

    • "To my Lord's in the morning, where I met with Captain Cuttance, but my Lord not being up I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn; and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy."

Ngram hung drawn and quartered vs hanged drawn and quartered

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Richard Nordquist, in an article at Grammar.about, comments:

The verb hang (meaning to fasten or suspend from above) has two past tenses--hanged and hung. Unless you're talking about a person who has been executed ("hanged to death"), you probably want to use hung.

Usage

For centuries, hanged and hung were used interchangeably as the past participle of hang. However, most contemporary usage guides insist that hanged, not hung, should be used when referring to executions: convicted killers are hanged; posters are hung.

This looks to me like an attempt to dictate practice. However, the original freedom to choose is again being exercised by a fair number of people, as evidenced by these Google Ngrams. And presumably the etymological fallacy doesn't apply too forcibly to a term referring to a historical practice.

Edwin Ashworth
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    Interesting point: the Grammarist says: *Hung* is the past tense and past participle of hang in most of that verb’s senses. For instance, yesterday you might have hung a picture on the wall, hung a right turn, and hung your head in sorrow. - *The exception comes where hang means to put to death by hanging. The past tense and past participle of hang in this sense, and only in this sense, is hanged.*

    *But, When someone is hung out of malice but with no intent to kill, as shown below, hung is the conventional word.* They hung him by chains and tortured him. [Day Press News]

     –  Dec 01 '15 at 19:21
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    This is true but my impression is that the phrase "hung, drawn and quartered" is idiomatic, even though it would, as you say, be "hanged" if the drawing and quartering were cancelled. – David Richerby Dec 01 '15 at 19:54
  • @Josh61 I usually find Nordquist reliable (as per his style of grammar) on syntax, but I'm wondering about the accuracy of his 'For centuries, hanged and hung were used interchangeably '. Certainly, modern usage is usually the division of the pps according to sense. And yes, David, with the further caveat that 'hanged' is not the preferred choice preferred in the expression 'hung, drawn and quartered'. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 01 '15 at 23:27
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    @EdwinAshworth: It sounds likely to me. I've read that in past centuries there was also often confusion between the past participle and past form of many verbs, with the distinction possibly being reinforced by prescriptivism. – herisson Dec 02 '15 at 00:59
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    @sumelic The interesting question is 'When does a mistake become the correct version?' – Edwin Ashworth Dec 02 '15 at 14:35
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It should be HUNG, drawn and quartered. It's all about transitive and intransitive verbs. It's 'hung' because the act involved cutting someone down from the scaffold while they were still alive to be then disembowelled. Had the victim died in the in the noose, then it would be 'hanged'. Sadly, they were kept alive for maximum gruesomeness.

Nick Sellens
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'' A coat is hung, a person is hanged". The difference being one is inanimate and the latter animate (though not for long).

Tricia
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