During your studies, you may come across the word ‘sic’. But what does it mean? And how should you use it? Today, we explain the origin of this word and show you how it should be used in academic writing.
Etymology
The word ‘sic’ is a shortening of the Latin phrase ‘sic eras scriptum‘, which means ‘thus it was written’. It has been used since antiquity to indicate that mistakes in quoted text belong to the original author, rather than the writer quoting the words. This shows the reader you have not altered the original.
Using Brackets Instead of ‘Sic’
Whenever you are quoting text which contains an error, you can use ‘sic’ to show the mistake was in the original version. For instance:
Original: Aromatherapy has anscient roots.
Quoted version: Smith says, ‘Aromatherapy has anscient [sic] roots’.
However, if the error is minor and affects how the quote will be read, you can just amend the text with the corrected word in square brackets:
Edited version: Smith says, ‘Aromatherapy has [ancient] roots’.
This is also acceptable if the word needs to be slightly altered in order to make it fit grammatically with your sentence. So if the original quote was:
Mavis said, ‘I need seventy cows to form my cow ballet troupe’.
Find this useful?
Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.
We could alter the quote to make it fit with a new sentence:
Mavis needed ‘seventy cows to form [her] cow ballet troupe’.
When to Use ‘Sic’
If you want to preserve the spelling of the original text, you should use ‘sic’. However, unless there is a reason to keep the error it is usually better to correct it (as shown above). Pointing out a mistake purely to deride the author would be unnecessarily rude!
You could also use ‘sic’ to show archaic spellings. For example, we might need to discuss an ancient recipe which calls for ‘suet of shepe’ (sheep’s fat). In this case, we could use ‘sic’ after the old-fashioned terms:
A recipe from the fifteenth century demanded that the ‘suet of shepe’ be ‘parboyled’ for one hour [sic].
Here, ‘sic’ is placed the end of the sentence to indicate the two archaic spellings. However, as long as it is obvious these spellings are from the original source and not introduced errors, the use of ‘sic’ is optional.
Italicisation
Latin expressions are often italicised. However, since ‘sic’ is in common use, italicisation is not always necessary. The best thing to do is check with your tutor or your institution’s style guide for advice, but as long as you use a consistent style throughout your essay it shouldn’t be a major issue.