AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I have an interest in the meanings of words and phrases, as well as how and when they became part of the English language. I enjoy
researching idioms, colloquialisms, dialects, and obscurities of
all kinds. I prefer short questions on a particular subject, and
I will not accept lengthy research projects or term papers. NOTE: ALLEXPERTS CLAIMS THAT I TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN AND FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH. I DO NOT. ALLEXPERTS REFUSES TO DELETE THE LATIN-TO-ENGLISH SERVICE -- ONE THAT I DO NOT PROVIDE.
TRUST ME ON THIS: ALLEXPERTS IS WRONG. I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LANGUAGE. LOOK FOR A LANGUAGE EXPERT INSTEAD. ETYMOLOGY AND TRANSLATING SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. ALLEXPERTS SHOULD KNOW THAT. ALLEXPERTS DOES NOT KNOW THAT. I HAVE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS TO GET THEM TO CHANGE. THEY WILL NOT. SORRY, BUT I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN.
Experience I am the bibliographic instruction and reference librarian at a public
college. My master's thesis concerns William Faulkner's tragic novels. I formerly taught advanced placement English at two schools in the Philadelphia area.
I have been a member of the grammar and writing section of Allexperts
for more than a year.
Education/Credentials Masters degrees in English, philosophy, and library science.
Question One of my friends recently used the phrase "That smarts" after he hurt himself. I thought it was a southern colloquialism as my friend is quite the red neck, but my parents told me they thought it was a mid-western saying. Where does this originate from? Thanks.
Answer Dear Laura:
Although it seems that the phrase "it smarts" or "that smarts" is colloquial in nature, its origin goes back many centuries.
"The Oxford English Dictionary" [OED] traces the origins of words and phrases, reporting the earliest instances of their usage in WRITTEN English. [In most cases, word and phrases were SPOKEN, before anyone actually wrote them down.]
In the case of "smart" or "smarts," as it relates to pain, the OED reports the first usage in ABOUT the year 1200, when the word was spelled "smerten." It had various spellings through the years. Its "cousins" are "that hurts," "that stings," and other similar phrases. The last example [below] is the closest to what your friend said -- that salty perspiration running into one's eyes caused them "to smart." People have been "smarting" from injuries for centuries!
Ted Nesbitt
The complete reference from "The Oxford English Dictionary" --
To feel sharp pain or distress; to suffer acutely or severely. Freq. with preps., as at, beneath, by, from, under.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 207 enne wile his heorte aken and smerten. c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 322 e bodie..at in strong Anguysche deth smeorte [v.r. smurte]. 13.. Sir Beues 631 o his bodi be-gan to smerte, He gan plokken vp is hertte. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. VII. xv. (Bodl. MS.), Smoke at dymme e yen and [maketh them] smerte. 1421-2 HOCCLEVE Dialog 650 Smertith the fool for lak of good auys. 1496 Coventry Leet Bk. 575 Which I dought not I shall haue ayen or Lammasse day, or ells iij or iiij of e best of yowe shall smart. 1530 PALSGR. 722/1 If thou ytche, care nat, but if thou smarte, beware. a1568 A. SCOTT Poems (S.T.S.) xxiv. 17, I speik expart, suppois I smart. 1609 BP. HALL Passion Serm. (1627) 432 Thou strikest: Christ Iesus smarteth, and will reuenge. 1670 COTTON Life of Espernon II. VIII. 371 Countreys that yet smarted with the last years War. 1781 BURNS Stanzas Prosp. Death 9, I..justly smart beneath his sin-avenging rod. 1849 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. vii. II. 200 The just indignation of the public was inflamed by many who were smarting from his ridicule. 1885 W. T. HORNADAY 2 Yrs. Jungle xxiii. 268 The salt perspiration ran into my eyes and caused them to smart.
