<P> The first recorded use of the expression was in 1816 by Sir Walter Scott in the Scots language , in The Antiquary . This expression is a mistranslation of the Latin phrase dederunt umerum recedentem from the Book of Nehemiah 9.29 from the Vulgate Bible , which actually means `` stubbornly they turned their backs on you '' , which comes from the Septuagint Bible 's Greek equivalent ἔδωκαν νῶτον ἀπειθοῦντα . Latin umerus ( often misspelled humerus ) means both `` shoulder '' and `` back '' : </P>
where did the phrase cold shoulder come from
first recorded use of the expression was in 1816 by Sir Walter Scott in the Scots language , in The Antiquary