<P> Arthur Schopenhauer, in his Parerga and Paralipomena which was written in German, Volume 2, § 232a, conjectured that this phrase might have been involved in a typesetter's error or a slip of the author's pen . </P> <P> Should there not have been originally' shuttled off'? This verb itself no longer exists but' shuttle' is an implement used in weaving . Accordingly, the meaning might be:' when we have unwound and worked off this coil of mortality .' </P> <P> In this way, the length of our life is metaphorically the length of thread that is coiled on a spool, a metaphor related to the ancient Greek mythological figures of the Fates . As we live, the thread is unwound from the coil by the shuttle of the loom of time . </P> <P> However, there are no other references in the speech to thread, looms, or weaving, and the remaining content of the speech matches the usage of coil, coile, or coyle to mean turmoil . </P>

Where does the phrase mortal coil come from