Sun Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘cloud’ and now look at ‘sun’.

Under the sun – as in anywhere in the world – is first seen as early as the late 12th century.

The sun never sets is a Spanish phrase quickly translated to English and both dating from around the 1630s.

Having one’s ‘place in the sun’ first appears in English in the translation of Pascal’s Pensees.

The ‘sun is over the foreyard’ (note not the yard arm) is first seen in the 17th century, it marking the time it is traditionally acceptable to have the first alcoholic drink of the day – roughly corresponds to noon.

While ‘basking in the sun’ is found from the middle of the 15th century ….

….. it took until 1821 for suntan to become a verb, and until 1888 as a noun.

Sun tan oil is not seen until 1934.

Sun dress is first recorded in 1937 in an advertisement, prior to that (since 1929) the term had been ‘sun back dress’.

Sundials are first seen in the 1590s – at least the term is – for the technology had been known for centuries. Prior to this they were simply referred to as ‘dials’.

Sun-drying of fruit and vegetables is not a new thing by any means, the term has been in use since the 1630s and the process for millennia.

Sun dance, the movement not the film character, has only been recorded since 1849 – undoubtedly dances to herald and praise the sun must have been around since before recorded history, but not referred to as sun dances.

Sun tanning may be a fairly modern phrase, but sun bathing has been around since 1866 in a cosmetic sense and since 1600 for therapeutic purposes.

Sun wake is the rays of the setting sun glinting on the water. Sailors would claim a narrow wake signaled good weather, with bad weather forecast by a broad wake.

Nobody wore a sun bonnet, that with a projection in front to protect the face and another to protect the neck, until 1837.

Think the sun lamp is a new invention? Nope, first named in 1885.

Sun worship, in the religious sense, is first used to describe such in 1670; but the phrase to refer to one who habitually sun bathes is not seen until 1941.

Sunburn has been described since 1520, at least in the modern sense, prior to that it referred to drying out (usually bricks) under the suns rays.

Sunset is seen from the late 14th century; for the Saxons the word was sunnansetlgong while sunset for them simply meant ‘the west’.

Sunrise is seen from the middle of the 15th century, prior to that it was used to mean ‘the east’.

Ride off into the sunset, the stereotypical ending for a Hollywood Western production, is unheard of before 1963.