Meaning of "sic" (Spelling is...)?

Sorry, but I couldn’t search on this.

“sic” is often used to indicate that a quote has been rendered exactly. It is usually placed after a misspelled word to indicate that it was the original writer, not the current one, who can’t spell. I thought that it stood for “Spelling Is Contained” or something like that. I was looking for the exact words involved in the acronym, but m-w.com says “Etymology: Latin, so, thus – more at SO” (and So says “Etymology: Middle English, from Old English swA; akin to Old High German sO so, Latin sic so, thus, si if, Greek hOs so, thus, Latin suus one’s own – more at SUICIDE”)

So, (ha) is “sic”, officially or unofficially, an acronym? And if it is unofficially, what does it stand for?

It is not an acronym, it is from the Latin for “thus”.

From dictionary.com

It’s generally used to indicate an obvious error in the source material used, either spelling or a verifiably erroneous statement.

In other words, it’s a shortened version of “it was thus in the original,” which is the editor’s way of saying he noticed the mistake, but he didn’t make it.

“NutWrench likes chedar(sic) cheese”

Another well know usage;

“Sic Semper Tyrannus” (“Thus Always to Tyrants”)

                     - John Wilkes Booth

It’s not “from” the Latin, it IS Latin. sic = such – a direct translation. It is not, in any way, an acronym, abbreviation, or derivative.

I think it’s far to say from Latin, no? Now that it’s English, it has to have come from somewhere.

Really, I’m not picking nits; there’s a time when a whole heck of a lot of English words had come from somewhere. At some point we stopped italicizing them in printed text, which seems to kind of be a tacit admission of “officialness” in modern English. For example I would italicize realpolitik were I to use it in a sentence. At what point do we accept a foreign word as English? Is “pronto” okay but we’re still waiting on “amigo”?

Of course, it’s clearly not wrong to say “sic” is Latin, either, since a thing is what it is, and in this case, is Latin, but also from Latin.

Given the OP’s confusion over the etymology, I think it’s better to be definite: sic is a Latin word. Besides, I don’t think it’s really become an English word anyway; it’s used excusively as an editorial tool, and obviously never in speech.

So am I the only one who ever thought that it stood for “Spelling is Contained”? It seems so. Hey, I’ve been wrong on a few things before in my life.

In my experience as a lawyer, sic is most often used to say, I am smarter than the idiot who wrote this, and am going to make fun them under the deniable guise of accuracy. I is perfectly acceptable legal usage to correct spelling/grammar quoted material within brackets.

In fact, direct quotes are not needed nearly as often as they are used. At least in the law I practice. Paraphrases generally read better. Multiple and lenthy direct quotes are most often the sign of a lazy writer.

bobk2 Just saw the Seinfeld rerun where crazy Joe Davola said the Wilkes quote. Was amused to hear Jerry mistranslate it as “death to tyrants” (sic).

Not really. I always thought it meant “Said in Context”.

Ex. I think it’s far(sic) to say from Latin, no? Now that it’s English, it has to come from somewhere.

I was actually taught by my ninth grade English teacher that it meant “Spelling Incorrect”. I continued to believe this until today.
And I took two years of Latin and never noticed!

<enter the simpleton who thought that it stood for: “spelling in-correct”>

<exit the simpleton who doesn’t use Preview Reply>

:slight_smile:

No no, it’s “Spelling Is Cwestionable” :smiley:

No, no, NO, it’s “Spelling Is Cwestionable (sic)” :stuck_out_tongue: