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.
I recently discovered your expert answers and enjoy reading them aloud to my coworkers during our long hours. They are always interesting and informative, and your way of writing is clever.
I do hope that you return to writing responses soon and I submit this question to you in hopes that it will encourage you to do so:
Where does the phrase "start from scratch" originate? My co-worker had the thought that it was from the ancient Olympics when a scratch line would be made where a race would begin. My thought was that in creating a sculpture one must begin with a single scratch. I have more faith in the correctness of her guess than mine, however.
Thanks sincerely!
Answer Dear Robert:
Fortunately, for you and your coworker, neither of you is correct. [But, she is closer than you are.]
The phrase is British in origin and is related to two sports: cricket and boxing [aka "pugilism"].
Sheffield University in England has a wonderful collection of these phrase origins. It's called "The Phrase Finder." I am pasting in below the complete reference from that source, along with the URL for finding it online. Also, note that "start from scratch" has a "first cousin" -- "toe the line." I am pasting in the URL for that explanation.
Finally, the "Bible of etymology," "The Oxford English Dictionary" [OED] is in agreement with "The Phrase Finder." At the end of my message, you'll find the complete citation from the OED, which gives the date of the first WRITTEN usage in the English language. The year was 1778.
Begin (again) from the beginning, embark on something without any preparation or advantage.
Origin
'Start from scratch' is an expression which has altered slightly in meaning since it was first coined. It is now usually used to mean 'start again from the beginning' - where an initial attempt has failed and a new attempt is made with nothing of value carried forward from the first attempt (as opposed to 'made from scratch' which means 'made from basic ingredients').
In the late 1800s, when 'start from scratch' began to be used it simply meant 'start with no advantage'. 'Scratch' has been used since the 18th century as a sporting term for a boundary or starting point which was scratched on the ground. The first such scratch was the crease which is a boundary line for batsmen in cricket.
John Nyren's Young Cricketer's Tutor, 1833 records this line from a 1778 work by Cotton:
"Ye strikers... Stand firm to your scratch, let your bat be upright."
It is the world of boxing that has given us the concept of 'starting from scratch'. The scratched line there specified the positions of boxers who faced each other at the beginning of a bout. This is also the source of 'up to scratch', i.e. meet the required standard, as pugilists would have had to do when offering themselves for a match.
Scratch later came to be used as the name of any starting point for a race. The term came to be used in 'handicap' races where weaker entrants were given a head start. For example, in cycling those who were given no advantage had the handicap of 'starting from scratch', while others started ahead of the line. Other sports, notably golf, have taken up the figurative use of scratch as the term for 'with no advantage - starting from nothing'.
The Fort Wayne Gazette, April 1887, contains the earliest reference to 'starting from scratch' that I can find, in a report of a 'no-handicap' cycling race:
"It was no handicap. Every man was qualified to and did start from scratch."
5. Sporting. A line or mark drawn as an indication of a boundary or starting-point; in Cricket, a ‘crease’ (obs.); in Pugilism, the line drawn across the ring, to which boxers are brought for an encounter. Hence in various phrases (often fig.), as to come up to (the) scratch, up to the required standard; to bring to the scratch, to toe the scratch, etc.
1778 COTTON in Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1833) 67 Ye strikers..Stand firm to your scratch, let your bat be upright. 1821 John Bull 7 Jan. 29/3 He started a few seconds before the time and came up in speed to the scratch at the moment appointed. 1830-57 DE QUINCEY Bentley Wks. VII. 131 No prudent champion, however game, would have chosen to offer himself to the scratch for a second round. 1843 DICKENS Let. 17 June (1974) III. 513 Pray, as a Member of the Committee, come up to the Scratch. 1848 A. BRONTË Tenant of Wildfell Hall II. xi. 202 Your uncle and aunt have long been wanting us to go there, you know; but somehow, there's such a repulsion between the good lady and me, that I never could bring myself up to the scratch. 1861 C. M. YONGE Young Step-Mother xiii. 156 The Vicar..was meditating a fresh one [sc. attempt], if..he could bring his churchwarden up to the scratch. 1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 37 [Pigeon shooting rules.] 21. In Shooting Matches..The shooter is bound in his turn to appear at the scratch within five minutes when called upon. 1894 SIR J. D. ASTLEY Fifty Yrs. Life I. 41 Some eight or ten toed the scratch, and I won very easily. 1911 G. B. SHAW Getting Married 226 It's about the wedding... We cant get our man up to the scratch. Cecil has locked himself in his room and wont see or speak to any one. 1934 ‘G. ORWELL’ Burmese Days ix. 142 If they won't come up to scratch you can always get hold of the ringleaders and give them a good bambooing on the Q.T. 1953 D. GARNETT Golden Echo vi. 133 All Edward's friends were mobilised and came loyally up to scratch. 1960 C. DAY LEWIS Buried Day II. viii. 164 Those of us who had pretensions to brain Maurice brought up to scratch by loosing on them the full force of his personality. 1978 Taxi 16 Feb. 11/4 (Advt.), Cold weather can cause you a lot of problems if your cab's electrics aren't up to scratch.
b. The starting-point in a handicap of a competitor who receives no odds; sometimes colloq. used ellipt. for such a competitor. Also fig.; esp. in phr. from scratch, from a position of no advantage, knowledge, influence, etc., from nothing.
1867 Athlete for 1866, 9 W. Collett, scratch 1. 1876 Bicycle Jrnl. 18 Aug. 7/1 Mr. Tom Sabin, of the Coventry Bicycle Club, has won, during last week, three races from scratch. 1886 Field 31 July 182/2 In the [lawn tennis] match between Messrs. G. Butler (owes 15) and E. A. Butler (scratch), the odd set again had to be resorted to. 1922 JOYCE Ulysses 454 A poor foreign immigrant who started scratch as a stowaway and is now trying to turn an honest penny. 1936 Economist 2 May 233/1 Nazi Germany, starting her rapid re-armament ‘from scratch’ in 1933, was fortunate enough to have a surplus capacity in all sections of her heavy industries. 1939 ‘G. ORWELL’ Coming up for Air II. v. 103 We'd no fishing tackle of any kind, not even a pin or a bit of string. We had to start from scratch. 1953 S. KAUFFMANN Philanderer v. 77 He took one look at her and thought: If I want that, I must begin all over again right from scratch. 1957 L. F. R. WILLIAMS State of Israel 53 Another branch of communications which has been built up from scratch to a degree of efficiency. 1962 Guardian 21 Mar. 2/5 The whole Treasury block could..have been rebuilt from scratch for the money. 1978 Peace News 25 Aug. 7/2 The daily routine was a crash programme of tuition provided by civilians, mainly Russian or other Slavic emigrés, in Russian from scratch to A-level standard, which was achieved in 10 months. 1979 Fortune 29 Jan. 77 NASA is not exactly starting from scratch out there in space; it is building on promising experiments done on prior space flights.
