Donate SIGN UP
Home > Phrases & Sayings > Beside yourself

Beside yourself

Avatar Image
pussing | 08:23 Mon 23rd Jun 2003 | Phrases & Sayings
2 Answers
Where did the phrase 'I was Beside Myself' come from and what does it mean?
prev Scream Blue Murder
  
next What does the 'N' stand for in N-Night?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by pussing. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Avatar Image Quizmonster
This has been used since the 15th century to mean maddened/out of one's senses. A similar phrase in French: 'hors de soi' - literally 'out of oneself' - means just the same thing. The idea is that you and your mind are somehow 'adrift' from each other, as it were.
09:24 Mon 23rd Jun 2003
Avatar Image Quizmonster
Just to add an afterthought to my previous answer...the earliest-recorded version of the phrase in written English was in a Caxton publication of 1490 called 'Enydos'. In a sense, therefore, that's where it 'came from', though it may have existed before that in spoken form, of course.
06:57 Mon 30th Jun 2003

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Beside yourself

Answer Question >>