Originally published 10/15/2012
Okay, y’all, I originally posted this seven and a half years ago, and my call for actual evidence to support the claim below netted me nothing but others who were curious, LOL. So I’m trying again–because this claim has since even appeared on Big Bang Theory, touted by Sheldon. So, seriously, people. Someone defend the claim, or I shall be forced to call Sheldon a liar. 😂
So here’s the deal. I’ve heard from quite a few sources that we moderns are misusing the word nauseous. That it ought not to mean “to feel sick or queasy” but that it rather means “to cause a feeling of nausea.”
Now, I’ve heard this from sources I trust, but they never quote their sources, and I’m now on a quest to figure out why in the world this is touted as grammatical fact and, more, as a “modern mistake” when every dictionary I look it up in says that nauseous has carried both meanings (“to feel sick” and “to make sick”) since 1600-1610.
One dictionary I found says “careful writers will use nauseated for the feeling of queasiness and reserve nauseous for ‘sickening to contemplate.'” I’m okay with being careful, really I am, but I’m still unsure why grammarians are saying that using its original meaning is “a mistake of the moderns.” It is, in fact, the first definition of the word in the OED.
So. Calling all grammarians! 😉 If you learned it this way and could point me to a source (not just an expert like the wonderful Grammar Girl, mind you) that states this as fact, I would be very grateful. I don’t mind changing my ways to be a “careful” writer–but I’m a Johnnie. I don’t ever accept an expert’s opinion without checking out their sources. 😉
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
I really like to read stories that try to be authentic, but when I have nausea in my gut (which is quite often) I say I am nauseous, not nauseated (nauseous is just easier to say!). I think that the person who compared words with -ous at the end had something – all of those words mean that that thing was in something. Courageous is courage in you; Poisonous means poison in something; nauseous means nausea in me! Makes sense to me! Kim
I got it in research and writing class in college…Strunk and White, I believe. Looks like the 1828 Webster dictionary defines it: "NAUSEOUS, adjective Lothesome; disgustful; disgusting; regarded with abhorrence; as a nauseous drug or medicine." Perhaps it's a case of American vs. British English???
I'm probably the last one you expected to comment on this language riddle of yours 😀
I used to read Grammar Girl, and this is where I've heard this question even exists. There was an article of a writer deliberately choosing to ignore her copyeditor and leave "nauseous" in the text, because that's how everyone uses it.
I looked it up quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/nauseatednauseous-the-prescriptive-vs-descriptive-debate She writes to have an edition of the Oxford English Dictionary stating that "'nauseous' entered the English language in 1618 as 'causing nausea,' since 1839 it has been used to mean 'affected with nausea, having an unsettled stomach' as well."
So there seem to be different opinions in dictionaries.
My first try: How about other words ending on "-ous"? "Courageous" means full of courage, having courage. "Poisonous" means full of poison, poisoning… Okay, that line of thought doesn't lead me anywhere.
Second try: The word "nausea" and the suffix "-oso" exist in the Italian language, but not in German. So I'm guessing that both came from Latin into English. I have never studied Latin, but maybe you could research if that word existed in Latin and how it was used there. (There is no "nauseoso" in Italian, so this road might be a dead end.)