When I first began my "scholarly" studies and was learning how to employ the word sic in scholarly writing (meaning thus--the term you use when you're quoting something that's got an error in it--say, you were quoting this from a Shakespeare play recently published: To be or not to been [sic] ....), I remember being somewhat amused by two homophones: sick and, well, sic--the term you bark at a dog to tell him/her to go after something--as in Sic 'em, Sooner! (Sooner was my boyhood dog.)
Okay, so last night, in bed, streaming Line of Duty, Joyce suddenly asked me where that term came from.
I had no freaking clue.
This morning, checking dictionaries, I do!
Merriam-Webster traces it back to 1845 and says it is a version of seek. Sounds reasonable. Let's see what the OED says ,..
[PAUSE WHILE I CHECK THE OED ...]
The dictionary lists it not by sic but by sick (but does list sic as an alternate spelling). It also traces it to 1845, to a novel by J. J. Hooper, Some Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs. Here's the quotation: "Sick him Pomp,..sick, sick, si-c-k him Bull.)
I just took a look on ABE ... the book is pretty rare, with prices ranging up to $275. But you can get a paperback, too, And it's available in various formats via Amazon, too.
I think I'm going to order and read one ...
Oh, and I should confess: Sooner never once in his life obeyed my command to sic. Maybe I should have said sick, Sooner being a literal thinker and all.
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