We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
A note that an oddity was in the original and is not a printing error.
Also known as: [sic], Sic in brackets
Latin for 'thus'. It defends the transcriber: the strange spelling, the wrong date, the grammatical error is genuinely what the source says. It is also routinely used to sneer, which is worth knowing when reading it.
The Latin word sic, usually bracketed and italicised, placed after an apparent error to record that it stands so in the source and has not been introduced by the person quoting.
Contexts: History
Its primary function is defensive: without it, a reader assumes the transcriber made the mistake.
Frequently used to hold an author's error up for ridicule rather than merely to record it, and style guides warn against this. Whether a given sic is neutral or pointed usually cannot be told from the mark itself.
A sic can be a scrupulous note or a jab. The notation does not distinguish them.
The three italic letters s, i and c, usually enclosed in square brackets, set immediately after a word within a quotation.