[PW] Anachronisms

[David Payne]

I did some brief searching for "no clue" in the OED and on Google Books. Someone with more time could probably retrieve better results than a clueless LIS student like me :)
 
>From the ODE:
 
The OED usage examples of that use of "no clue" trace back to 1870 in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. I don't have a copy of the 1870 edition, but according to the 1898 edition: "I have not yet got the clue to give a clue, i.e. a hint. A clue is a ball of thread (Ang.-Saxon, cleowen). The only mode of finding the way out of the Cretan labyrinth was by a skein of thread, which, being laid along the proper route, indicated the right path" (http://www.bartleby.com/81/3730.html). (The OED has other old usage examples that are tied to the sense of being lost, needing directions, etc.)
 
But the OED's clearest example of the usage in question (clearest to me) is not until 1948: "1948 PARTRIDGE Dict. Forces' Slang 19391945 43 ‘He simply hasn't a clue’he is completely ignorant of his job, or of what is going on."
 
Found in Google Books:
 
>From some US Revolutionary War correspondence in 1782: "Here we are lost in the wide field of expectation and conjecture, without a clue to lead us." (http://books.google.com/books?id=iDcOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA726&dq=%22clue%22+date:1600-1900&lr=&as_brr=0#PPA725,M1)
 
Stretching back centuries further, here is a translation showing Sophocles using the phrase, but it is stripped from context: http://books.google.com/books?id=OEYMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA159&dq=%22no+clue%22+date:1600-1900&lr=&as_brr=0
 
 
 



> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:32:16 -0500> To: list at project-wombat.org> From: dlh at donnahalper.com> Subject: Re: [PW] Anachronisms> > At 02:48 PM 1/14/2008, you wrote:> > >As for "no clue", I appreciate Sue's literary references, but they all> >occur in the context where one would hope to find a "clue" in the> >traditional sense of "a piece of information that sheds light on a> >mystery". Obviously there have been cases for centuries where> >investigators have been able to find "no clue".> > Interestingly, I find that the spelling used by certain newspapers of > the late 1800s and early 1900s was "clew". And of course the OED > says the expression "not to have a clue" goes back to the 1870s. > > _______________________________________________> Project Wombat> list at project-wombat.org> http://www.project-wombat.org/
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