{"id":13,"date":"2017-09-04T05:48:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T05:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2017-09-18T13:36:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T13:36:35","slug":"sea-changes-transformations-in-english-words","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/sea-changes-transformations-in-english-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Changes: Transformations in English Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2b05 Previous Lesson<\/a>\u00a0Workshop Index<\/a>\u00a0Next Lesson \u27a1<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Sea Changes: Transformations in English Words<\/h1>\n

Objective<\/h3>\n

Review the key concepts in word history<\/p>\n

Other mechanisms motivate meaning changes in words. Here\u2019s a guide to and examples of these linguistic impulses.<\/p>\n

Meaning Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amelioration<\/abbr> is the process by which a word\u2019s meaning improves over time. For example, the word naughty<\/em>, a derivation of naught<\/em> (zero), used to mean morally bad or wicked or even worthless. Over time, naughty<\/em> has ameliorated to meaning mischievous or irresponsibly playful.<\/p>\n

Pejoration<\/abbr> is the process by which a word\u2019s meaning worsens over time. For example, the word villain<\/em>, which now means thief or scoundrel, originally meant peasant. The word silly<\/em> used to mean simple and blessed but now is synonymous with foolish.<\/p>\n

Taboo words <\/abbr>are replaced by euphemisms, as the original word was perceived as dangerous. The most common example in English is the word bear<\/em>, 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!<\/em> and gadzooks!<\/em>, are replacements for \u201cGod\u2019s wounds\u201d and \u201cGod\u2019s hooks,\u201d 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<\/i> for died and collateral damage<\/i> for unintended desctruction or civilian deaths in a war.<\/p>\n

Calques<\/abbr> are words and phrases that are translated word-for-word from the foreign language. For example, \u201cit goes without saying\u201d, is a calque of the French phrase \u00e7a va sans dire<\/em>. The Latin word evangelium<\/em> (good news) was calqued into god-spel<\/em>, which became gospel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

And now, a practice question.<\/p>\n

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Question<\/h4>\n
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Which meaning shift shows pejoration?<\/p>\n

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  1. The original meaning of knave<\/em> was male child.<\/li>\n
  2. The original meaning of knight<\/em> was boy or lad.<\/li>\n
  3. The original meaning of girl<\/em> was child.<\/li>\n
  4. The original meaning of lady<\/em> was loaf kneader.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    Reveal Answer <\/a><\/p>\n

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    The correct answer is A. Knave<\/em> now means scoundrel, so the meaning has worsened over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

    <\/p>\n

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    Back to Top<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u2b05 Previous Lesson\u00a0Workshop Index\u00a0Next Lesson \u27a1 Sea Changes: Transformations in English Words Objective Review the key concepts in word history Other mechanisms motivate meaning changes in words. Here\u2019s a guide to and examples of these linguistic impulses. Meaning Changes Amelioration is the process by which a word\u2019s meaning improves over time. For example, the word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanboard.org\/Subjects\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}