“Come,” in start of a sentence

idiomsusageword-usage

I'm reading Alice in Wonderland and came across this sentence:

“Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on…

(thinking about Cheshire Cat)

I'm quite confused by the "Come," usage. It feels like one could substitute it with "Since" preposition or with "It happens so that". Am I right? And can you elaborate on how this usage came to be?

Best Answer

In the paragraphs before, Alice was a little apprehensive. She was a little startled to suddenly see the Cheshire Cat, and, although it looked good-natured, she noted that it had 'VERY long claws and a great many teeth'. She decided to treat it with respect, and timidly addressed it as 'Cheshire Puss'. Its response was only to grin more. At this point she spoke to herself in thought. 'Come' (old-fashioned), 'come now', or 'come on' (slightly less so), can be used as an encouragement, especially to someone who is scared or nervous, e.g. if a small child was scared to go in a pool, its parent might say 'Come! (or come on!) - it's not deep!'. Alice is encouraging herself to be brave and ask the Cheshire Cat for directions.

Come

  1. CONVENTION

People say 'Come' to encourage or comfort someone.

[old-fashioned]

'Come, eat!' the old woman urged.

Come (Collins Dictionary)

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