Etymology is the study of the origin of words.
As languages develop, the meaning of words can change over time. This causes confusion and misunderstandings when communicating with other people.
In a world where you live from communication, advertising or marketing, it is not only important to have clarity in your message, it is also important to think about your target market and understand how they understand words and messages.
On the plus side that words change meaning over time, languages have been observed to stay alive, adapt, and grow over time.
An example would be the word nice. Nice used to be a slur and meant silly or stupid in the 13th century and went through many changes until the 18th century with meanings such as riotous, extravagant, elegant, strange, modest, thin and shy. Now it means good and nice or considerate and kind.
Fool meant blessed or happy in the 11th century and passed for pious, innocent, harmless, pitiful, and weak-minded before ending up as foolish or stupid.
Quite started as cunning, changed to clever or cleverly made, then fine, and ended as beautiful.
Some other changes are:
Word ______ Original meaning
Horrible________ Deserving of amazement
Count _________Prayer
Brave_________ Cowardice (as in bravado)
Girl__________ Young person of either sex
Neck_________ Plot of land (as in neck of the woods)
Discomfort______ Injury, damage
Sophisticated___Corrupt
There are various reasons why words change meaning. One is the influence of other languages and cultures. Throughout history, many nations through conquest or mixing with each other, introduced their own languages into the mix. Another reason is the predominant use of slang words. We get so used to using them that many times we forget that we are not even.
So when it comes to defining words, there is the standard dictionary, which by the way can display multiple meanings for a word, and there is the slang definition of the word.
Furthermore, slang words are spreading faster and used more frequently than before, making them commonplace in many societies.
Due to the advancement of science and technology, new words are also being created at an astonishing rate. Keeping up with some of the new words and your use of them will help you in your efforts to understand and become a master of communication.
Once every ten years, the Merriam-Webster dictionary is updated. Its 11th edition in 2003 included some 10,000 new words along with 100,000 new meanings of existing words and some 225,000 revised definitions.
Some of the slang words that have been made into the dictionary are;
Headbanger: hard rock musician and fan
Dead Presidents- Paper Money
Prairie Gophering: People looking over their cubicles at work.
McJob – Low paid job with no way out.
Comb over an attempt to cover a bald spot
You can learn more words in an etymology dictionary.
We can use this as another reminder, especially when achieving a group goal is important, that what one word means to us may not have the same meaning to someone else.
there is also the emotional reactions that different people have for certain words. But that is another story…