The expression “uncharted waters” is still used literally, as in this sentence from “Sailing the Artic,” an article by Nicolas Peissel in the May 5, 2011, issue of Sail magazine: In Sparks From the Anvil (1846), the American diplomat Elihu Burritt writes that ancient shepherds and sailors used the stars “to guide them by night over the vast plains of the East, and the uncharted waters of the ocean.” However, we’ve found several earlier appearances, including one that dates from the first half of the 19th century. “In tracking the Siberian coast through the month of August, many uncharted islands were discovered” (from the Edinburgh Review, 1897). “To establish the latitude and longitude of uncharted places” (from Popular Science Monthly, 1895). These are the two earliest Oxford examples of “uncharted”: In the 19th century the noun gave rise to a verb (1842) and to the adjectives “charted” (1857) and “uncharted” (1890s), according to citations in the OED. Over the years the noun “chart” eventually acquired related meanings (a graph, a sheet of information, a musical arrangement, a plan, a course). Until long into the 1600s, the OED says, a seagoing map might be called a “card,” “card of the sea,” “mariner’s card,” or “sea-card.” By the late 1600s, it was a “chart” or “sea-chart.” (Even now, the navigation room on a ship is called the “chart-house” or “chart-room.”) Here’s an early example, written sometime before 1527: “A little Mappe or Carde of the Worlde.” (From an account in Diuers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America, a collection published in 1582.) “The Geographicall Mappe is twofold: either the Plaine Chart, or the Planispheare.” (From Nathanael Carpenter’s Geography Delineated Forth in Two Bookes, 1625.)īefore the English word was spelled “chart,” it appeared in the 1500s as “carde” or “card.” The first definite example appeared in the following century: The OED has a few questionable uses of “chart” from the 1500s. The word for a map came into English from French ( carte), derived in turn from the Latin carta or charta, which the Oxford English Dictionary says meant paper or a leaf of paper. It’s derived from the noun “chart,” which originally meant a map when it entered English in the 1600s or possibly earlier. “Uncharted,” first recorded in the 19th century, literally means not appearing on a map or chart. We once mentioned this misuse in passing (in a post about “baited breath”), but now we’ll take a closer look. But you can’t sail on “unchartered waters.”
It’s possible to hire an “unchartered accountant” (one without the professional designation), or to sail an “unchartered boat” (one you own instead of hire). In fact, the adjective “unchartered” is not often used correctly in its literal sense, though it can be done. And at least one standard dictionary includes “unchartered” in the figurative sense of “irregular.” However, the misuse has been in print for more than a century and a half, apparently the result of early misspellings. Unknown or unexplored territory is “uncharted,” and the use of “unchartered” here is incorrect. I would appreciate any information you might provide regarding these terms.Ī: You’re right, of course. As I understand, “uncharted” means unmapped and the use of “unchartered” is incorrect. Q: I often hear references to “unchartered” territory.