Sean writes "Some authors have said the secret word was IAOM. Or at least that this was one secret word at one time.

It may be the hidden meaning/joke in Twelfth Night."

I was already interested in Greek capital I (Iota) for its source in the early Sumerian symbols and Audrey Waugh’s excellent videos point out that repetition is to be understood as a coded confirmation of some truth. You mentioned the bad quarto earlier which led me to the following reflection. 'I' is repeated three times at the start:

It begins ‘To be or not to be, I there’s the point,’

Matthew 5:18 goes:

‘For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished;’ (English Standard Version)

Another version, New Living Translation, gives:

‘For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.’

It struck me that Matthew’s ‘stroke’ or ‘jot’ is a capital I and that Shakespeare’s ‘I there’s the point’ might indeed be making the point and also referring to the capital ‘I’, repeated twice for confirmation in the following lines.

That might not have been enough to warrant a comment here. However, at the end of the ‘bad quarto', I and O appear as capitals. Using the same logic, I might see this as a reference to the Greek myth of Io and suggest that she – who is linked to Hermes - is being mentioned in place of Ophelia. Io (becoming IU) corresponds to Sumerian IA, the multiplication of the waters (of Ga-ia), and the nurturing milk of the celestial cow.

This final 'I' also brings the number of iotas/strokes to four. The four strokes (on the tablets of destiny) appear (quite literally) on lines 69-70 of The Story of Sukurru, ca. 2600 BC. The dramatic episode related there might well find its echo in elements of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. From the Sumerian Story of Sukurru, through the biblical Sermon on the Mount and on to the so-called bad quarto of Hamlet…

Please believe that I’m not desperate to attach Shakespeare and his peers to this ancient language or to the figure of Hermes that lies deeply embedded in it. There is already plenty of meat on that bone and I’m fully aware of the stupendous time gap. Nevertheless…

Madeleine