I've encountered the phrase “the once and future X” and I'm confused by it. It seems to be closely related to Arthurian legends: the book The Once and Future King (referring to Arthur) or the episode The Once and Future Queen of the TV show Merlin (referring to Guinevere; this use is likely derived from the aforementioned book).
When I try to understand what the phrase means, I would think it's something like “the one who was king in the past (i.e. once) and will be king again (i.e. in the future)”. But that doesn't make any sense to me, based on what I know about the legend of Arthur (which isn't much), he didn't stop being king and then became a king again.
So, what exactly is the phrase supposed to mean?
Best Answer
It's a reference to the prophecy that King Arthur will return. The idea is that he was once king, and will be again.
As far as I know, T.H. White did in fact coin the English version of the phrase for his Arthurian book The Once and Future King, but you'll occasionally hear it adapted for other uses ("ladies and gentleman, the once and future champion!"), presumably as an allusion to the book. The original source is Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (the most enduringly popular rendition of the Arthurian myth), where the equivalent Latin phrase rex quondam rexque futurus is described as engraved on Arthur's tombstone.