von Pontius zu Pilatus

Significat (Anglès)

from pillar to post, an irritatingly long and indirect way, especially in order to get or find something

Conceptes

aquí i allà

Traduccions

from pillar to post

hither and thither

to and fro

van het kastje naar de muur

van hot naar her

ir de Herodes a Pilatos

Etimologia (Anglès)

Literally, “from Pontius to Pilate”. Likely alteration of an older von Herodes zu Pilatus (“from Herod to Pilate”); compare Spanish de Herodes a Pilatos. The form may have originated as a malapropism (Pontius and Pilate being one and the same person), but it surely caught on because it emphasizes the annoyance of the to-and-fro movement even more.