Rest on One’s Laurels

Take a break.

Dear Word Detective: I was wondering what the origin is of the term “resting on one’s laurels” or, as my Dad used to say, “sitting on one’s laurels”? Most people I know use it to mean wasting time or being lazy, but I wondered if it doesn’t really have to do with foolish indulgence after reaching the top (laurels being given to the winner of a competition or to signify achievement). — Britt Morris.

How odd. If folks really think that “resting on one’s laurels” means simply “being lazy,” they’re skipping a rather important step, the one where the person becomes fabulously successful. Without that success, whether financial or otherwise, you’re just sitting on a pile of prickly leaves.

Your suspicion that “resting on one’s laurels” means more than simply “taking it easy” is correct. To begin at the beginning, the “laurel” in question is the “True” or “Bay” Laurel, “laurus nobilis,” a large shrub (or tree) native to the Mediterranean area. This laurel (there are several other plants with “laurel” in their names) is also known as a “Bay Tree,” and is the source of the spicy and aromatic “bay leaves” used in cooking.

The significance of laurels, and of wreaths of laurel leaves worn as symbols of accomplishment, goes all the way back to the mythology of Ancient Greece. The god Apollo, who was more than just a bit of a jerk, criticized the archery skills of Eros, the god of love (and lust, giving us the word “erotic”). Eros retaliated by shooting Apollo with a magic arrow that made him fall in love with the nymph Daphne. So far, so good. But then Eros shot Daphne with an arrow that made her hate all men, especially Apollo. Apollo then pursued Daphne over hill and dale, until Daphne, finally cornered, begged Gaia, goddess of the Earth, for help. Gaia quickly turned Daphne into a laurel tree, and Apollo, bereft, fashioned a wreath from the tree as a symbol of his love. Laurel leaves were forever after associated with Apollo, and wreaths made from them were awarded to the victors in the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece as well as to honored poets (giving us the term “poet laureate”).

The use of “laurel” as a metaphor for “honor or distinction” in English goes back at least as far as Chaucer in the 14th century, leading to such phrases as “to reap one’s laurels.” Given the human tendency to take a break once you’ve hit the jackpot, “to rest on one’s laurels,” meaning to coast on the strength of one’s former accomplishments, had appeared by the 19th century.