Sherpt

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Any guess out there of what "sherpt" is in "her flesh is sherpt away"?
>This was written in Alabama in 1849 in a letter to a brother and
>sister, describing their mother's condition.  The letter is full of
>non-standard spelling, usually somewhat phonetic although sometimes
>in the opposite direction (like "scents" for "sense").  Here's the
>whole sentence:
>
>"Mother is in a bad situation -- she has got no scents at toll worth
>any thing for she perfectly childish in her ways and her flesh is
>sherpt away tel she is a mear skelitan and she keeps her bed constant
>and can not get about at toll."

Just a guess: "sherpt" = "sharped" (OED gives "sherp" as variant of "sharp"
[verb]).

Two possibilities:

(1) "sharped" = "sharpened", or in this context "shaved", with the image of
sharpening a peg, stake, pencil, etc. by shaving off wood;

(2) "sharped" = "stolen", an obsolete sense preserved today as slang
"sharp" = "defraud", "sharper" = "swindler", "cardsharp[er]" = "cheater at
cards".

-- Doug Wilson