Where does “sic” come from?
I appreciate the task, but I need to flag a critical issue: the chain provided appears malformed or incomplete for deriving "sic" (English).
The chain shows: English seek | Proto-Indo-European so | Latin si | Latin -cus | Proto-Indo-European -kos | Proto-Indo-European -kos
This traces "seek," not "sic." Latin "sic" (meaning "thus/so") would have a different etymology entirely—likely from Proto-Indo-European *swe- or *so-, but the chain as given doesn't support it.
Additionally, the chain lists "Latin -cus" and "Proto-Indo-European -kos" twice, and mixes a full word (Latin si) with suffixes (-cus, -kos) in a way that doesn't form a coherent derivation path.
**I cannot write an accurate one-sentence summary without a
sic (English): Thus; thus written; To mark with a bracketed sic;...
Definitions
- Thus; thus written; To mark with a bracketed sic;...
Ancestry of “sic”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | seek | To try to find; to look for; to search for; To... |
| 2 | Middle English | seke | Alternative form of seken |
| 3 | Old English | sēċan | to seek or inquire about |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | sōkijan | to seek, to look for |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | sōkijaną | to seek, look for |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | séh₂gyeti | to give a sign |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | seh₂g- | to seek out |