Language desk
< September 26	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 27[edit]

Sweet summer child[edit]

The Internet seems to be convinced that the phrase "summer child" (or at least specifically "sweet summer child") originates with Game of Thrones, where a child might never experience winter. I was sure that was a pre-existing idiom referring to any kind of naive person, and Martin cleverly repurposed it. But now I can't find any evidence of it outside Game of Thrones! Did I just imagine hearing it before? Adam Bishop (talk) 11:36, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I've never seen an episode of Game of Thrones, but have definitely heard the expression "sweet summer child", probably first in the late 1960s. (Well before the Internet.) Sorry, can't help with a source. And it's bedtime here. HiLo48 (talk) 12:07, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

In Newspapers.com (a pay site, and not comprehensive), I'm seeing the expression "summer's child" as far back as 1818, in poetry. And "summer-child" as far back as 1843. And "sweet, summer child" in 1879. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:12, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ngram hits in google books go back to c. 1840. You can click on a date range below the chart to get the actual sources. The earliest hits look to be from a novel by Fredrika Bremer. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 15:49, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"Blue was the summer ah-, and mild

The fragrant breeze, — sweet Summer's child.

All rob'd in white, dead Stanley seem'd,

And radiance, from his features, beam'd; -

Meta, companion of his way, —

Yet pale as when, on earth, he lay".

The Creole by Mary Scrimzeour Furman Whitaker, Charleston, 1850.

"Thy home is all around,

Sweet summer child of light and air,

Like God's own presence, felt, ne'er found,

A Spirit everywhere!"

The West Wind by James Staunton Babcock, New York, 1849.

Seems to be an Americanism though, there is no usage that I can see from this side of the Atlantic, and it's not a phrase that I'm familiar with. Alansplodge (talk) 18:26, 27 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Some of the earliest references I found were in British newspapers, but it's mostly American. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:56, 28 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Great, thanks everyone! Adam Bishop (talk) 00:54, 28 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]