- hands
- The idea that if your hand itches you are about to receive money has been around for at least 400 years, and is still current, and is clearly allied to the metaphor of an itchy hand for avarice, which is equally old. Shakespeare provides the earliest known reference (Julius Caesar (c.1599), iv. ii). Shortly afterwards, *Melton (1620: 46) wrote, 'When the palme of the right hand itcheth, it is a shrewd sign he shall receive money'. Later references distinguish the two hands - left to receive money, right to pay it out - or give further advice:If your hand itchesYou're going to take richesRub it on wood, Sure to come to goodRub it on iron, Sure to come flyingRub it on brass, Sure to come to passRub it on steel, Sure to come a dealRub it on tin, Sure to come agin(Folk-Lore Record 1 (1878), 240; from Suffolk)See also *dead man's hand, *fingernails; *fingers; *gestures; *hand of glory, *thumbs.■ Opie and Tatem, 1989: 186; Lean, 1903: ii. 283-4.
A Dictionary of English folklore. Jacqueline Simpson & Steve Roud. 2014.