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sod

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English has two main words spelled sod: one meaning turf, and a term of abuse shortened from sodomite.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

sod1 turf

Etymology

The word for turf is borrowed from Middle Dutch sode (“turf”) or Middle Low German sode,[5][2][6][7][1] modern Dutch zode.[6][8] Both correspond to Old Frisian sātha (“sod”) and West Frisian sead,[5][6][1] and the group is of uncertain or unknown origin.[5][2][3][9] A connection with seethe has been suggested, on the idea that the word first meant turf used as fuel, but Barnhart and the OED find no evidence for it;[5][6] Klein, Skeat and Weekley nevertheless related it to seethe and sodden.[10][11][12] Etymonline suggests that the underlying idea is soaking with water, which would relate the group to sog.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of earth cut out with the grass growing on it: before 1450 in Barnhart and the mid-15th century in Etymonline;[6][2] the OED's first record is from before 1475, in the Liber Cocorum.[5]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart and Etymonline date the verb, to cover with sods and especially to bury, to about 1400, implied in the past participle i-sod, which is earlier than the noun;[6][2] the OED records the verb only from 1652.[5] The sense "grassy surface of the ground", often poetic, is recorded from 1729, and turf as a material from 1826.[5] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "a turf; a clod".[13] Under the sod, dead and buried, appears in 1847, in Trollope.[5] The (old) sod, one's native district or country and especially Ireland, dates from 1812, in P. Egan's Boxiana.[5][2] In Scotland a sod was also a peat cut for fuel (1825), and in Scottish and northern use two pieces of turf, or a rough cloth, served as a saddle (before 1586).[5][8] In the American West a sodbuster was a farmer, from 1885.[14][15]

Timeline

  • before 1450 – a piece of turf.[6] The OED's first record is from before 1475.[5]
  • before 1586 – Scottish and northern, a pair of turfs used as a saddle.[5]
  • 1652 – verb, to cover with sods.[5]
  • 1729 – the grassy surface of the ground.[5]
  • 1812 – the old sod, one's native country, especially Ireland.[5][2]
  • 1826 – turf as a material.[5]
  • 1847 – under the sod, dead and buried.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The top layer of soil held together by the roots of grass; turf, sward.[1][15]
  2. A piece of this cut from the ground: The gardeners laid fresh sods along the border.[15][1][5]
  3. (poetic) The ground.[15][5]
  4. the old sod: one's native country, especially Ireland.[1][5][2]

Verb

  1. To cover with sods.[15][1][5]

Word family

  • sodless
  • sodbuster
  • resod

sod2 term of abuse

Etymology

The term of abuse is a shortening of sodomite.[5][2][3][1][8][10] Green notes that, except in the first sense, the sexual reference is incidental.[14] The OED notes that it was sometimes printed with asterisks or dashes to avoid a charge of obscenity.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sodomite, a homosexual man: 1810, in a letter by W. Beckford, according to Green;[14] the OED's first record is from 1814, in the Old Bailey proceedings,[5] and Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1818.[2][1]

Semantic evolution

By about 1835 it was a general term of abuse for a person, at first a man, who is irritating or difficult,[5] and since 1911 (Masefield) it could also express affection or pity, as in poor sod.[5][8] From 1936 (Orwell) it also meant a difficult thing, and by 1940 a great nuisance.[5] The verb meant to sodomize from 1868;[5] in curses (sod him) it is recorded before 1904 in the English Dialect Dictionary, from West Yorkshire,[5][14][16] and sod it from 1953.[5] Sod off, go away, is from 1960 in Etymonline and the mid-20th century in the Shorter Oxford.[2][8] Sod all, nothing at all, is attested from 1930 in Etymonline and 1958, in Amis, in the OED.[2][5] Sod's law, the rule that whatever can go wrong will, is recorded from 1963.[5]

Timeline

  • 1810 – a sodomite.[14] The OED's first record is from 1814.[5]
  • c. 1835 – a general term of abuse for an irritating person.[5]
  • 1868 – verb, to sodomize.[5]
  • before 1904 – verb, in curses, sod him.[5][14]
  • 1911 – said with affection or pity.[5]
  • 1930 – sod all, nothing at all.[2] The OED dates it to 1958.[5]
  • 1936 – a difficult thing.[5]
  • 1953 – sod it.[5]
  • 1960 – sod off, go away.[2]
  • 1963 – Sod's law.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly British, vulgar slang) An unpleasant or annoying person, especially a man: The idle sod never paid his share.[17][1][8]
  2. A person of a specified kind, often said with pity or envy: You poor sod.[17][8][5]
  3. A difficult or troublesome thing.[17][5]
  4. (offensive) A sodomite.[5][14]

Verb

  1. Used in curses to express annoyance or dismissal: Sod the rain, we're going out.[17][1][8]
  2. sod off: go away.[8][2]
  3. sod all: nothing at all.[5][2]

Word family

  • sod off
  • sod all
  • sodding
  • sodden
  • seethe
  • sodomite
  • sodomy

Usage notes

An older sod, boiled, was the past participle of seethe (1297–1658); it gave an Australian noun for a damper that has not risen (from 1836).[5][8] In Scotland sod was also a name of the rock dove, of unknown origin.[5][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  16. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  17. ^ a b c d Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press