Sic
The Latin adverb sic inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous, archaic, or otherwise nonstandard spelling or punctuation. It also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be likely interpreted as an error of transcription.
The typical usage is to inform the reader that any errors or apparent errors in quoted material do not arise from errors in the course of the transcription, but are intentionally reproduced, exactly as they appear in the source text. It is generally placed inside square brackets to indicate that it is not part of the quoted matter.
Sic may also be inserted derisively, to call attention to the original writer's spelling mistakes or erroneous logic, or to show general disapproval or dislike of the material.
Etymology and historical usage
Though occasionally misidentified as an abbreviated word, sic is a Latin adverb used in English as an adverb, and, derivatively, as a noun and a verb.The adverb sic, meaning "intentionally so written", first appeared in English circa 1856. It is derived from the Latin adverb sīc, which means "so, thus, in this manner".
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the verbal form of sic, meaning "to mark with a sic", emerged in 1889, E. Belfort Bax work in The Ethics of Socialism being an early example.
False etymologies
On occasion, sic has been misidentified as an acronym : "s.i.c." is said to stand for "spelled in context", "said in copy", "spelling is correct", "spelled incorrectly", and other such folk etymology phrases. These are all incorrect and are simply backronyms from sic.Modern usage
Use of sic greatly increased in the mid-twentieth century. For example, in United States state-court opinions before 1944, sic appeared 1,239 times in the Westlaw database; in those from 1945 to 1990, it appeared 69,168 times. Its use as a form of ridicule, deserved or otherwise, has been cited as a major factor in this increase.The immoderate use of sic has created some controversy, leading some editors, including bibliographical scholar Simon Nowell-Smith and literary critic Leon Edel, to speak out against it.
Conventional use
Sic, in its bracketed form, is most often inserted into quoted or reprinted material to indicate meticulous accuracy in reproducing the preceding text, despite appearances to the reader of an incorrect or unusual orthography. Several usage guides recommend that a bracketed sic be used primarily as an aid to the reader, and not as an indicator of disagreement with the source.Use to denote archaisms and dialect
Sic may show that an uncommon or archaic expression is reported faithfully, such as when quoting the U.S. Constitution: "The House of Representatives shall their Speaker..." However, several writing guidebooks discourage its use with regard to dialect, such as in cases of American and British English spelling differences. The appearance of a bracketed sic after the word in a book review led Bryan A. Garner to comment, "all the quoter demonstrated was ignorance of British usage".Use as a form of ridicule
The use of sic can be seen as an appeal to ridicule, whether intentional or not, because it highlights perceived irregularities. The application of sic with intent to disparage has been called the "benighted use" because it reflects a "false sense of superiority" in its users. The following example from The Times of London demonstrates how the interpolation of sic can discredit a quoted statement.Ironic use
Occasionally a writer places after their own words, to indicate that the language has been chosen deliberately for special effect, especially where the writer's ironic meaning may otherwise be unclear. Bryan A. Garner dubbed this use of sic "ironic", providing the following example from Fred Rodell 1955 book Nine Men:Formatting
Where sic follows the quotation, it takes brackets: . The word sic is usually treated as a loanword that does not require italics, and the style manuals of New Zealand, Australian and British media outlets generally do not require italicisation. However, italicization is common in the United States, where authorities including APA Style insist upon it.Because sic is not an abbreviation, placing a full stop/period inside the brackets after the word sic is erroneous,
although one style guide suggests styling it as a parenthetical sentence only when used after a complete sentence, like so: .
Criticism
Use of sic has been noted for its potential to bring about linguistic discrimination. A letter written to the American Journal of Roentgenology has been cited in the journal's French counterpart, the Journal de Radiologie, highlighting how apparent prejudices among English-language journals may be causing a higher rejection rate of scholarly papers from francophone authorsa concern because English is the lingua franca for medicine. In the letter, the AJR was criticized for its frequent insertion of sic when publishing letters written by French and Japanese authors even though its correspondence acceptance policy reserved the right of copy-editing, which could therefore have been used beneficially to correct minor English language errors made by non English-speakers. In response, the editor in chief of AJR, Lee F. Rogers, apologized for the possible discriminatory interpretation and offered the following explanation for its decision to insert sic on multiple occasions rather than to copy-edit:Alternatives
Replacement
Some guides, including The Chicago Manual of Style, recommend "quiet copy-editing" instead of inserting a bracketed sic, such as by substituting in brackets the correct word in place of the incorrect word or by simply replacing an incorrect spelling with the correct one.''Recte''
Alternatively, to show both the original and the suggested correction, one may give the actual form, followed by recte, then the corrected form, in brackets. The Latin adverb recte means rightly.According to the Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music Style Sheet, there should be no punctuation, for example no colon, before the corrected word when using recte.