"Under the weather" (1826)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

There were six "hits" in Early American Newspapers. It was hard on the eyes and I didn't see anything relevant, but Fred Shapiro or someone else can re-check.


(GOTHAMIST.COM)
Gothamist Weather: Etymology Lesson with a Side of Mosquitoes
... Miss me? Gothamist was illin yesterday morning, though the server was also conveniently
timing out. ... Here's where the idiom "under the weather" comes from: ...
www.gothamist.com/weather/archives/2004/ 07/16/etymology_lesson_with_a_side_of_mosquitoes.php - 27k - Cached - Similar pages

Anyway, summer colds suck and I wouldn't wish them on anyone. But they are good for lessons in etymology! Here's where the idiom "under the weather" comes from:

This phrase meaning ill dates to 1827 and, according to the OED2, is an Americanism. The phrase probably derives from the idea that the weather can affect your mood and health.



(AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES ONLINE)
Article 5 -- No Title
Saturday Evening Post (1821-1830). Philadelphia: Sep 23, 1826. Vol. VOL. V., Iss. No. 38.; p. 0_002 (2 pages)
First page:
We overtook (says a traveller) many settlers migrating in the est--for when a man gets a _little under the weather_ in affairs, off jogs he to the backwoods to sun himself.


(LITERATURE ONLINE) (Prose)
3. Dunlap, William, 1766-1839 [Author Page]
Thirty Years Ago; or, The Memoirs of a Water Drinker Volume 1 (1836)  587Kb
Thirty Years Ago; or, The Memoirs of a Water Drinker   [URL for this text]
Found 1 hit(s):
Main text   [URL for this text]
CHAPTER VIII.   [URL for this text]
...I must say," was Freeman's reply. "He seems a little under the weather, somehow; and yet he's not sick. He looks...