MovieChat Forums > A Knight's Tale (2001) Discussion > 'You have been tried, you have been test...

'You have been tried, you have been tested, and you have been found...'

posted 13 years ago by VaticanAssassinWarlock
5 replies | jump to latest

"wanting."

I tried looking up the origin of this well known phrase, and I could only find 3 origins.

Daniel 5: "You have been weighed upon the scales and found wanting"

Later, a response to this by GK Chesterson: "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting"

And finally, this film: "You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting."

The last incarnation seems the closest to the phrase as I know it.

Now 2001 seems very recent (although increasingly less so, damn you time!!) and I thought this phrase must have been famously used long before then in a similar manner. But I can find no link to its reference in any other book or film. Did mankind really have to wait until A Knights Tale to be bestowed upon with such a marvelous turn of phrase!?

Anybody else find themselves in a similar situation; or better yet, does anybody have a difference source of the quote from film or literature prior to AKT?

[–] kungfuflygirl 13 years ago

hmmmmm...........
I have no earthly clue about this! Nevertheless, your post is enlightening.

[–] haveyoumetchristie 12 years ago

My guess is that it may have something to do with a part from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, when the dead person's heart is weighed on the scales of justice. More info can be found here: http://www.egyptian-scarabs.co.uk/weighing_of_the_heart.htm

"Life is a holiday! Let us live it together!" - Guido Anselmi, 8½

[–] Princerd 12 years ago

KJV

Da:5:25: And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Da:5:26: This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.
Da:5:27: TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.
Da:5:28: PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.

[–] Suzume-san 11 years ago

In that night was Belshazzar the King slain -

(SLAIN!)

and his kingdom divided.

[–] raf-33 8 years ago

Because it is not a phrase, it's just a sentence created using ancient vernacular.

To be tried is to go to trial, we still use that word today.

To be tested is the ancient way of carrying out a trial where you or your accusers would try to prove that you are or are not what you are believed to be. Witches would be tied down with rocks and thrown in rivers to test if they can escape, a person masquerading as a prince would be questioned on royal etiquette. Tests are carried out until the judges are satisfied.

To be found wanting is akin to the phrase "left to be desired", it means you are missing something you should have or should know - in other words you failed the test and clearly are not what you claimed you are. You have been found lacking something.

It's all just 'ye olde speak' for "We have found the defendant guilty, your honour - eat him!"

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov