The Times (&
Meanings of Words) are A- Changin
by
Howard
Richler
Although
in the Middle Ages it is unlikely that gold fetched over $1500 an
ounce, we still should pity the Middle Ages alchemists who futilely
endeavoured to turn lead into gold. For all they had to perform
such a metamorphosis was to create a simple series of synonym chains.
Let me explain how this black art can be completed. For example to
turn black into white we follow the following steps:
Black-dark-obscure-hidden-concealed-snug-pleasant-easy-simple-pure-White
Macbeth's witches must have been on to something when they
realized that fair is foul and foul is fair because in the same
manner ugly transmogrifies into beautiful:
Ugly-offensive-insulting-insolent-proud-lordly-majestic-grand-gorgeous-Beautiful.
This legerdemain doesn't appear as
impressive when we reveal that the word pretty originally meant
cunning and that came to mean beautiful through these set of stages:
Pretty-cunning-clever-fine-nice-Beautiful.
In fact, we can empirically “prove” the veracity of postmodern
theory by showing how true is indeeed false:
True-just-fair-beautiful-pretty-artful-artificial-fake-False.
In
fact, many words have undergone changes in meaning that allow us to
trace a similar process. For example, the word “nice” originally
meant “foolish” or “stupid” in the 14th
century. Since then it has gone through the following progression in
meaning:nice-
loose-mannered-foolish-wanton-lazy-effeminate-tender-delicate-shy-refined-fine-agreeable-kind-
pleasant. The word “shrewd” originally meant “foolish” and
went through this semantic transformation:
shrewd-depraved-wicked-naughty-abusive-calculating-artful-cunning-wise.
“Sad” went through this metamorphosis:
sad-satiated-settled-mature-serious-unhappy. Also, “gay” went
through a transformative process from its original sense of “happy”
to today's prevalent sense of “homosexual.”
It can even be explained
how the same word can evolve contradictory meanings. For example with
the word “fast” we start off with a sense of “immovable” or
“firm” as in “standing fast.” From the sense of “standing
fast” we developed the concept of “running fast” and hence the
rapid sense of the word. Similarly “fine” originally denoted
something “slender” and
this led to a sense of “highly finished” that in turn led to a
sense of “beautiful.”
In situations where large growth is appreciated, this allows “fine”
to be seen as “large” notwithstanding that the word started its
life as “slender.”
In his
book The Broadcast Word (1935) Welsh
linguist Arthur Lloyd James wrote:
“A language is always changing: we are not looking at a
lantern-slide, but at a moving picture.”To demonstrate the
turbulence in word meanings I have concocted the following
alphabetically-arranged ΓΌber
short story which I have entitled The
Admiral and the Juggler:
(The italicized words
represent the original meaning of the word).
“The
admiral
(emir),
while visiting Bedlam
(Bethlehem)
captivated
(captured)
a divan
(council of state in Turkey)
and entreated
(treated) the fickle
(treacherous)
grub (short person)
to a spectacle by an honest
(comely)
impudent
(immodest)
juggler
(jester and musician). The juggler
while but a knave
(boy), was
able to make lingerie
(linen
items)
disappear and meat
(food)
appear out of thin air. He then had the emir's niece
(granddaughter)
occult
(hidden)
as a prank
(malicious trick)
and the bereft admiral thinking his niece had been quelled
(killed) was about to order a raid
( military
foray made on horseback) to make
a sample
(example) of the juggler's perfidy, however the knave had no
talent
(inclination) to challenge the admiral and ended his uncouth
(malicious) performance and had the virgin
(unmarried girl) re-appear. The mollified admiral advised the lad in
future to be
witty
(sensible) and the relieved performer, with a yawn,
(open mouth) devoured some zest
(orange peel).
Apparently, there is no
word in English beginning with an “x” that has changed its
meaning significantly. Even “xenophobic” Madame Marois
This
article is excerpted from Richler's latest book How Happy
Became Homosexual and other mysterious semantic shifts
hrichler@gmail.com
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