The term land of Nod, a joking reference to sleep, has its origins in the biblical Nod, to which Cain was exiled after murdering his brother Abel. Jonathan Swift first used it that way in his 1738 work, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Land of Nod”
Grant, have you ever used the phrase land of nod, or do you know what it means?
Land of just going to sleep, right?
Yeah, going to sleep.
That also comes from the Bible.
I did know that.
I don’t know how.
It’s a joke.
A what?
It’s a joke.
There are jokes in the Bible.
Oh, I can tell you some Bible jokes.
But, yeah, actually the land of Node was in Genesis, and it’s where Cain, after he murdered Abel, was exiled.
The land of Node.
But wags like Jonathan Swift thought it would be funny to say land of Nod, like meaning the place that—
Isn’t that funny?
It is funny.
Yeah.
So Jonathan Swift in 1738, in his complete collection of genteel and ingenious conversation, first used that.
Yeah.
The guy had a little bit of pride in his work, didn’t he?
It’s a very full opinion of himself.
Off to the land of Nod.
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