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Review the key concepts in word history
Other mechanisms motivate meaning changes in words. Here’s a guide to and examples of these linguistic impulses.
Meaning Changes
Amelioration is the process by which a word’s meaning improves over time. For example, the word naughty, a derivation of naught (zero), used to mean morally bad or wicked or even worthless. Over time, naughty has ameliorated to meaning mischievous or irresponsibly playful.
Pejoration is the process by which a word’s meaning worsens over time. For example, the word villain, which now means thief or scoundrel, originally meant peasant. The word silly used to mean simple and blessed but now is synonymous with foolish.
Taboo words are replaced by euphemisms, as the original word was perceived as dangerous. The most common example in English is the word bear, which comes from a pre-English word meaning brown; the original word has been lost. Some words that are now mild and even quaint interjections in English, such as zounds! and gadzooks!, are replacements for “God’s wounds” and “God’s hooks,” respectively. These phrases were completely unacceptable by church standards in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance because both referred to the crucifixion of Jesus. Modern examples of euphemisms include passed on for died and collateral damage for unintended desctruction or civilian deaths in a war.
Calques are words and phrases that are translated word-for-word from the foreign language. For example, “it goes without saying”, is a calque of the French phrase ça va sans dire. The Latin word evangelium (good news) was calqued into god-spel, which became gospel.
And now, a practice question.
Which meaning shift shows pejoration?