by one's own hand
1
5.9
- idiom
:
de su propia mano
- "By his own hand, Keller.
- died by one's own hand
Examples
-
'If that were my fate "'and I brought down to a beast, "'I would rather die by my own hand."'
-
But that was 14 years ago (14 years, and I can still do "my" part on "Hold Me Tight" -- feels so right now -- and "You're Going to Lose That Girl" -- which he did, but by his own hand).
Academic text (2005) -
"But only by his own hand."
-
It's still the loss of a life, even if it was by his own hand.
Blog text (31) -
According to Iventosch Grisostomo, in the Quijote, he dies by his own hand.
Academic text (1993) -
The young girl Mary, after all, did die (whether by his own hand or someone else's), and whatever the circumstances, the creature seemed to lose all memory of her afterwards.
Academic text (1993) -
KING DID NOT DIE BY HIS OWN HAND, a headline read, MRS.
Fiction book (2000) -
After the second eating, he asked his provider, a man named Sidaimbone: "He told me that I had become a kussanga like him and that the meat I had eaten twice was human flesh, and if I denounced him, he would kill me by his own hand."
Academic text (2004) -
Or no—even better, a headline: Secret of dictatorship revealed!" "I think that you will not do that, sir," said the General, and by his own hand shot the correspondent.
Fiction book (2000) -
The order will be written by one's own hand.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
By yourself with no other people present
81
2.0
To do something with your hands, for example writing or making things, instead of with a machine
57
4.1
Without help from other people
3
3.8
One person does something without help from other people
How Personal
1
5.9
271
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'personally; done by the person themselves' is directly derivable from 'by' (indicating agency/means) + 'own' (possessive emphasis) + 'hand' (instrument/agent), paralleling the common English pattern 'with one's own hands'. This instrumental/possessive composition is cross-linguistically common and follows a transparent semantic logic, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
The phrase by one's own hand comes from old writing practice: a letter or work was described as made 'by one's own hand' when it was actually written and signed with the person's own hand. So it came to mean 'personally', done by the person themselves.