born with a silver spoon

Born rich, or lucky, or both. Several writers believe this phrase comes from the custom of godparents giving their god- child a silver spoon, and only the wealthy could afford this gift. However, the spoon here may simply be symbolic of wealth, and indeed, other locu- tions, such as “He was borne with a penny in ’s mouth” (John Clarke, Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina, 1639), also occurred. The silver spoon was cited in Peter Motteux’s translation of Don Quixote (1712), as well as in two proverb collections of the same period.