Word Choice: Historical vs. Historic
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The invention of the computer was a historic event. Without it we would still be scribbling in the margins of galley proofs, unaided by word-processing software. The invention of the computer was also a historical event, hence our use of the past tense.
Yet not every historical event is historic, and not every historic event happened long ago. Are those words starting to look like arbitrary strings of letters yet?
This can happen when you’ve been staring at any term for too long (it’s a confirmed phenomenon called semantic satiation). But, as proofreaders, we can’t let this get in the way of using words correctly. And historical and historic have slightly different meanings.
A Tale of Two Suffixes
In the past, it was common for words that now end -ic to end -ical instead:
Hark ye to the pathetical tragedie of Editorius and Proofreda.
Any similarity to actual ‘pathetical’ tragedies is purely coincidental.
And while you’re unlikely to find ‘pathetical’ in modern writing, we do see this in some modern spellings. In some cases, the suffix doesn’t affect the meaning, as with ironic and ironical. But in other cases, including historic and historical, adding -al changes the meaning completely.
As such, proofreaders and editors need to be careful with this word ending. And if you encounter historic or historical, keep the following difference in mind.
Historic or Historical?
If something is historic, it is momentous. In other words, we deem a historic event to have had (or to be destined to have) some effect on the course of history:
The historic first performance of Editorius and Proofreda changed theatre forever.
In the sentence above, then, the author uses historic to emphasise the importance of the event. If something is historical, though, it is merely associated with, or happened in, the past:
Critics dismissed the play as a two-a-penny historical potboiler.
So, in this sentence, all the author is saying is that the play was about or related to history. There is no similar sense of something being important to history.
Mistakes such as confusing historic and historical are common and easily missed. But, as a proofreader, you can help your clients avoid errors like this.
