What shrift are these victims given?

[meliss]

Hi. What is the meaning of the word "shrift" here? It couldn't be confession, since it's BC time.

“Why don’t you tell it plain? How we hood these luckless b*st*rds in their own cawls, truss their limbs, and bend them over, a**hole-to-navel alongside their fellows. Leave the throat bare, orders the sergeant. One stroke, mate. ...Where is that picture in all your ‘chronicles’? Where is the line of living men, on their knees in the dirt with their hands bound behind them?... You don’t tell that, do you? Nor how the men we slaughter writhe on the earth, squirming away from the weapons’ edge, how you have to pin their feet between your legs, or that it takes two of you. What shrift are these victims given? The less the better; none at all if possible. By the time we get to them, they’re so bundled it’s as if we’re butchering packages."

(The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield)

 

[5jj]

give somebody/something short shrift | get short shrift

1. to give somebody little attention or sympathy; to get little attention or sympathy

shrift noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of shrift noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

 

[meliss]

give somebody/something short shrift | get short shrift

1. to give somebody little attention or sympathy; to get little attention or sympathy

shrift noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of shrift noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

The context supposes neither attention nor sympathy yet.

 

[güey]

a remission of sins pronounced by a priest in the sacrament of reconciliation
Merriam-Webster

 

[5jj]

The context supposes neither attention nor sympathy yet.

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by the 'yet' at the end.

 

[meliss]

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by the 'yet' at the end.

The same as without yet

 

[meliss]

a remission of sins pronounced by a priest in the sacrament of reconciliation
Merriam-Webster

It's about 329 BC.

 

[5jj]

The same as without yet

It doesn't. It makes no sense with 'yet'.

 

[meliss]

It doesn't. It makes no sense with 'yet'.

I mean, in this context, there is no question of sympathy or attention for the captives. Should I have used however instead of yet?

 

[5jj]

I mean, in this context, there is no question of sympathy or attention for the captives. Should I have used however instead of yet?

You could have used 'yet' as the first word in your sentence.

However, the idea of the original, What shrift are these victims given? The less the better; none at all if possible, is that the captives were given little shrift/sympathy.

 

[Rover_KE]

I don't recall 'shrift' being used in modern English without 'short' before it. [link]*

* When the huge red 'play' symbol in the FrazeIt website pops up, ignore it and click on the much smaller arrow icon on the right.

 

[güey]

It's about 329 BC.

I missed that.