To be "hung, drawn and quartered", or to be "hanged, drawn and quartered"?

Question

I have always used the former, both as an idiom (to be severely punished, often used as a superlative in jest) and in reference to the historical form of capital punishment. I have always used hanged when referring to  capital punishment.

To be hanged, drawn and quartered sounds wrong to me (it may be useful to note here that I am from the UK), however, logically, I see that it should grammatically be correct, and is indeed the heading of the Wiki article on the topic.

Have I been wrong all these years saying hung, drawn and quartered?

user66974 · Accepted Answer

Both versions are used, according to the Phrase Finder the 'hung' version is more colloquial:

This grisly phrase is the proper name for the death sentence which is often colloquially called hung, drawn and quartered. 
  This describes a form of execution used in England from the 13th century until 1790. The sentence was given to others after that date but not carried out.  Hanged, drawn and quartered was the punishment for traitors, that is, men who committed treason, that is, the violation by a subject of his allegiance to his sovereign or to the state. Women traitors were burned at the stake. The punishment was most often meted out for High Treason - acts of betrayal, or actual or attempted murder of the sovereign (regicide).
  The casual manner in which people approached these grim spectacles is indicated by the entry in Samuel Pepys' Diary for 13th October 1660:

"To my Lord's in the morning, where I met with Captain Cuttance, but my Lord not being up I went out to Charing Cross, to see Major-general Harrison hanged, drawn; and quartered; which was done there, he looking as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there was great shouts of joy."

Ngram hung drawn and quartered vs hanged drawn and quartered

Edwin Ashworth · Answer

Richard Nordquist, in an article at Grammar.about, comments:

The verb hang (meaning to fasten or suspend from above) has two
  past tenses--hanged and hung. Unless you're talking about a person who
  has been executed ("hanged to death"), you probably want to use hung. 
  
  Usage
  
  For centuries, hanged and hung were used interchangeably as the past
  participle of hang. However, most contemporary usage guides insist
  that hanged, not hung, should be used when referring to executions:
  convicted killers are hanged; posters are hung.

This looks to me like an attempt to dictate practice. However, the original freedom to choose is again being exercised by a fair number of people, as evidenced by these Google Ngrams. And presumably the etymological fallacy doesn't apply too forcibly to a term referring to a historical practice.

Tricia · Answer

'' A coat is hung, a person is hanged". The difference being one is inanimate and the latter animate (though not for long).

Nick Sellens · Answer

It should be HUNG, drawn and quartered. It's all about transitive and intransitive verbs. It's 'hung' because the act involved cutting someone down from the scaffold while they were still alive to be then disembowelled. Had the victim died in the in the noose, then it would be 'hanged'. Sadly, they were kept alive for maximum gruesomeness.

Answered by Nick Sellens on May 18, 2021

To be "hung, drawn and quartered", or to be "hanged, drawn and quartered"?

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