Sic has some even more famous relatives. It is the Latin word behind Italian, Spanish, French si 'yes'. There was no Latin word for yes (or no). One answered a question with the verb in the affimative or the negative, or by using an adverb to indicate the speakers attitude towards the querstion: e.g., certe 'absolutely', fortasse 'perhaps'. In the Late Latin, folks started to use sic 'thus' and non 'not' to answer yes and no questions.

As for book title, the famous monk Peter Abelard (Heloise's tutor, then lover) wrote one called: Sic et non 'Yes and No'.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.