Sam Hill
Dave Wilton, Saturday, March 10, 2007
This is an American euphemism for hell that usually appears in the form what in the Sam Hill? The origin is unknown, but the hill is undoubtedly an alteration of, or at least influenced by, hell. It also may have originally referred to the devil, as opposed to hell. If so, it would follow in a long line of personifications of the devil, such as Old Nick or Old Scratch.
The term appears in 1839, when it is recorded in the Havana Republican (NY) of 21 August:
What in sam hill is that feller ballin’ about?
(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)
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Copyright 1997-2008, by David Wilton
Copyright 1997-2008, by David Wilton
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I have an alternate theory. The Swedish word for community is ‘samhallet’. The ‘a’ after the ‘h’ has two dots over it, and is pronounced like the ‘e’ in ‘bet’.
I can imagine some Swedish immigrant in Minnesota in the 1800’s saying, “Now vere is de samhellet has Sven gone to?”
I can further imagine Americans, after hearing this phrase over time, changing it to ‘sam hill’ out of a lack of understanding of its meaning, and turning it into a piece of folk lore.