This issue comes up in the 19th chapter, titled “In Which I Have a Good Look at Winter and Find Spring in the Snow.” Sam Gribley has been living on his own in the Catskill mountains since May. Near the end of the following January, Sam feels tired. He decides that his current diet must be missing some essential vitamin, but he doesn’t know which one it is. He gets a nosebleed, too. When his falcon Frightful catches a rabbit for him, Sam finds himself craving the liver. He learns later that liver is rich in vitamin C. As long as he eats liver on a regular basis in these winter months, he has no more problems. But he can’t wait for spring to come, when fresh greens will be available again.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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