Most people know words change meanings over time. “Mouse” once referred only to a small rodent. “Cool” simply meant “somewhat cold.” I once had a young student say to me in stunned amazement, “Did you know that gay used to mean happy?” But people aren’t always aware of the various ways words can shift in their definitions over time.
Words are a writer’s medium.Understanding their histories can attune us to their subtleties, and enable us to make precise, powerful, effective word choices.
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Here are four ways words in English have changed meaning over time. Some of them may surprise you!
Broadening. Dog’s tale. Some words start out with very limited meanings that gradually become broader. Take the word dog. The word originally referred not just to any pooch, but to a very specific breed—a powerful working dog who originated in England. Over time, the word’s definition broadened, until it meant any animal of the specifies Canis lupus familiaris.
Many words have broadened over time. Bird once referred only to a baby bird who had not yet left the nest. Guy (originating from Guy Fawkes, the leader of a 16th-century plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament) started out meaning a creepy looking man or boy—until it gradually came to mean just any guy no matter what he looked like.
Narrowing. What gender is that girl? The exact opposite can happen to words: They can start out with a broad meaning that becomes narrower. A girl was once a young person of either gender. A vest meant any item of clothing. An undertaker was someone who undertook something—if you undertook anything, you were an undertaker. And a deer was an animal of any species. Over time, the meanings of all those words have became much more specific.
Amelioration. Isn’t that nice? Sometimes a word with a negative connotation gradually develops a positive one. When it first appeared in English around 1300, nice meant foolish, dumb, ignorant, or silly. It was definitely not a nice thing to say about someone. It took 500 years for nice to develop its current meaning—kind, considerate, pleasant.
The process of amerlioration hasn’t stopped. Ridiculous and wicked are now both used to mean “amazingly good.” Amelioration in action!
Perjoration. How awful is God? The word awful originally meant full of awe, referring to a feeling of great wonderment and reverence. But now when we say, That movie was awful or Joe’s awful chili made us all gag, we don’t mean we want to kneel in veneration. And, just to show how unpredictable word change can be, the one-time synonym of awful, awesome, went in exactly the opposite direction.
Bleaching. The story of shit. Here is a word I wouldn’t normally use in a blog, say in front of my classes (except when using it as an linguistic example), or blurt out at a formal dinner, although I have been heard to say it when rereading the first draft of one of my stories.
The history of shit is quite interesting. Once upon a time, it just mean solid human waste. It wasn’t a swear word. It wasn’t a vulgar word. It was just a plain, ordinary way to say, well, shit. You might say to you doctor without a blush, “My shit seems unusually [insert adjective of choice here] these days.” Except you would say it in Middle English.
What happened to shit was faeces. At a time when scores of Greek and Latin medical and scientific terms were being imported into English, faeces came to be the polite way to say shit. Languages tend not to tolerate exact synonyms. When two words mean the same thing, they usually develop different connotations. And so, poor shit got shoved into the category of impolite language.
But that’s not the end of the story. Listen to what has happened to shit lately. If you hear someone say, “I wish my ex would get his shit out of my apartment,” you can safely assume she isn’t referring to faecal matter. Just his stuff. Much of the meaning of the word has been leached out—a process called bleaching. In many contexts, shit hardly has any meaning at all any longer, as in You really need to get your shit together. What does shit mean there? It’s more or less an empty place holder.
Regardless of what your high school English teacher may have told you, language isn’t neat, static, or logical, but diverse, fluctuating, and chaotic.
Word change is a continual process. Become aware of it. Listen for new and unusual usages. Take note of them, and experiment with them. It’s fun! And it’s also a dynamite practice for your writing. (And, no, I don’t mean “an explosive material made from nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth. That word’s meaning has broadened!)
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