To have a croak in one's voice

Origin

Long before laryngitis was a medical diagnosis, people understood that a rough, guttural sound often indicated a voice under strain. The word "croak" itself is an onomatopoeia, mimicking the very sound it describes, much like the distinctive call of a frog. It's easy to imagine our ancestors, listening to the resonant, throaty calls from a pond, drawing a vivid parallel when a human voice, perhaps from shouting too much or suffering from a common cold, took on a similar gravelly quality. This natural comparison, bridging the human experience of vocal fatigue with the raw sound of the natural world, gave birth to the evocative image of 'a croak in one's voice,' a phrase that has resonated through centuries to describe that tell-tale sign of vocal distress.