etymology - Origin of the phrases “third time’s the charm” and “third time lucky”?


What would the origin of the saying “Third time’s the charm”?


I’ve also heard “third time lucky” used as well. Are these two expressions related to each other?



Answer



I think the origin of these phrases is from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1602:


http://books.google.com/books?id=FU2U2eXY5JoC&pg=PA111&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U35unAFU3SrueMKV2VzabVGl63Acg&ci=115%2C267%2C600%2C387&edge=0


As for which came first, lucky or charm, I found the charm variation earlier and not of American origin as The Phrase Finder has, but British. This is from The Cabinet Album, 1830 (date check):


http://books.google.com/books?id=1mG6OWccGegC&printsec=frontcover&vq=third+time#v=onepage&q=third%20time's&f=false


And the lucky version I found three years later in The Port Admiral, by William Johnstoun N. Neale, 1833 (date check):


http://books.google.com/books?id=WgDkW0mVwWUC&printsec=frontcover&vq=third+time#v=snippet&q=third%20time's%20lucky&f=false


Since these two variations can be traced back to the same time period and the same country, I think it's safe to say they are related and that they both echo Shakespeare.


Edit: Heck, why not throw a pretty Ngram in for good measure:


http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=third+time+lucky%2C+third+time%27s+lucky%2C+third+time+is+lucky%2C+third+time+is+the+charm%2C+third+time%27s+the+charm&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3


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