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Discussion Groups / English Usage / September 2010"Sick to my stomach... "
I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. Why *to* the stomach?  Signature"If you can, tell me something happy." - Marybones > I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. > > Why *to* the stomach? I'm not sure. Looking at Google Books, "sick in my stomach" seems to be the oldest form, and "sick at my stomach" shows up in 1755, while "sick to my stomach" doesn't appear until 1861. The OED cites "at" to 1653, "in" to 1753, and "to" not until 1947. So [Attn Jesse Sheidlower: OED antedating] "... and I couldn't go without my umberell [sic] no way, if it should come on to rain; and then I had the fennel so 'st if I should be sick to my stomach a riding in the cars, it's very warming--" Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1861 SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ Still with HP Labs |Any programming problem can be SF Bay Area (1982-) |solved by adding another layer of Chicago (1964-1982) |indirection. Any performance |problem can be solved by removing evan.kirshenbaum@gmail.com |one. http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ Evan Kirshenbaum filted: >> I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1861 "To" was nigh onto universal when I was growing up; I first remember hearing "at" somewhere around age twelve, and "in" never came up.... In other prepositional phrases involving parts of the body: I have a little philtrum Into which my spiltrum flows When I am feeling illtrum And runny at the nose. ....r SignatureMe? Sarcastic? Yeah, right. > > I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. > > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > be the oldest form, and "sick at my stomach" shows up in 1755, while > "sick to my stomach" doesn't appear until 1861. I got more by using the asterisk, looking at "sick to * stomach," which allows for other pronouns and "the". > The OED cites "at" to > 1653, "in" to 1753, and "to" not until 1947. So [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Harper's New Monthly Magazine, March, 1861 Google Books has a collection of English documents which were reprinted in 1852, among them a manuscript written by William Cholmely, a London grocer who died in 1554. In it he said: After I had taken my degree, I was taken sick in a coffee-house as I was smoking my pipe, and, being very sick as to my stomach, I went out of doors and threw my dinner up, for which reason I never smoked afterwards. [The request and suite of a true-hearted Englishman, 1553, ed. by W.J. Thoms, The Camden Miscellany, Vol. 2.] Clearly the editor modernized spelling, which makes me wonder if he altered any word choices. SignatureBest - Donna Richoux >> > I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. >> > [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > Clearly the editor modernized spelling, which makes me wonder if he > altered any word choices. I think I'd assume so. There's one 2009 reprint that looks to have preserved spelling, but I couldn't find that passage in it. Using an asterisk, though, I could definitiely push it back a few decades: Rum, if they take tu [sic] much of it, makes folks _sick to the stomach_--so do the newspapers. [Seba Smith], letter dated 5/30/1830, _The Select Letters of Major Jack Downing, of the Downingville Militia, Away Down East in the State of Main, 1834 SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ Still with HP Labs |Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a SF Bay Area (1982-) |barbarian and thinks that the Chicago (1964-1982) |customs of his tribe and island are |the laws of nature. evan.kirshenbaum@gmail.com | | George Bernard Shaw http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ [snip re "sick to one's stomach"] > > Google Books has a collection of English documents which were reprinted > > in 1852, among them a manuscript written by William Cholmely, a London [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > I think I'd assume so. There's one 2009 reprint that looks to have > preserved spelling, but I couldn't find that passage in it. Well, no wonder. You sent me back to the Google Books entry, and I saw that my quote *couldn't* be from Cholmely as it mentioned dates in the 1600s. The Camden Miscellany has a whole lot of short papers in it, and it's not always clear what is what. The one I quoted is actually from "Autobiography And Anecdotes" by William Taswell, D.d., who died in 1682. What's more, he wrote in Latin, and it was his grandson who put the work into English in 1724. So either this "as to" is colloquial English of 1724, or maybe it depended on the original Latin. (Ad nauseam??) SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > [snip re "sick to one's stomach"] > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > So either this "as to" is colloquial English of 1724, or maybe it > depended on the original Latin. (Ad nauseam??) Maybe a dative, which is often translated with "to". Nauseavi stomacho? Aegrotavi stomacho? (That would be a little euphemistic, since the verb meant "to be ill") If the Latin version exists, I couldn't find it. > I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > "If you can, tell me something happy." > - Marybones Would you prefer *from*? > I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. > > Why *to* the stomach? Just theory, but one might presume it's elliptical for "all the way down to", suggesting whole-body malaise. (Well, whole upper body, but you know what I mean.) SignatureCordially, Eric Walker, Owlcroft House http://owlcroft.com/english/ >> I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > to", suggesting whole-body malaise. (Well, whole upper body, but you > know what I mean.) By analogy, perhaps, with "sick up to /here/". SignatureOnline waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk >> I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. >> [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > to", suggesting whole-body malaise. (Well, whole upper body, but you > know what I mean.) I always assumed that that was exactly what it meant. SignatureRob Bannister >I'm so used to hearing it I haven't given it any thought... until now. > >Why *to* the stomach? What, it should be to the mall? SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 27 years |
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