Semantic change-I

OFTEN it is said that word meaning is like an onion: it consists of many layers and its taste will vary according to how people will use it — in a spicy curry or in a bland salad. As words are used in different ways and in different contexts, they acquire different associations; so ushering in a change in the meaning as well. To speak in linguistic jargon, the meaning of a word depends upon two things — denotation and connotation. An illustration will define both. Woman and lady are both words that refer to a female human adult. The denotative meaning is quite clear now. But the two words cannot substitute for each other as they are used in different contexts. This subtle difference between words and the associated implied meaning is connotation. There is a constant tension between the two kinds of meaning and it often has an effect on the meaning taken as a whole. For example, sinister, a borrowed term from Latin, originally meant left or left hand. It did have a connotative meaning of bad luck. By the 17th century this association formed the denotative meaning of the word and the notion of leftism totally died out.

The main ways in which words change meaning have been identified. Specialisation or narrowing of meaning is the process that contracts word meaning. Meat, up to the 15th century, meant any kind of food, but now refers specifically to flesh. The word deer referred to any kind of beast, but now refers to a particular four-legged animal. Generalisation refers to the widening of meaning. Clerk for instance, started with the sense of a member of the clergy. Later this was extended to include scholar and then an office worker or a shop worker. Similarly, the word business originally meant a state of being active. The meaning was extended over time to include occupation, a piece of work, a concern, a matter, dealings, trade and a commercial enterprise.

Amelioration refers to the elevation or improvement of meaning. On tracing the whole gamut of change in the meaning of the word nice, a full journey from the initial meaning of stupid in the 14th century to agreeable in the 20th century emerges. From foolish to lascivious to strange to slender to over-refined to intricate to dainty to cultured to pleasant; nice goes through a lot in order to lose a negative sense and gain a positive one. Perjoration is the complete reverse, degradation of meaning, depreciation or a downward shift. In the 17th century, on seeing the new St Paul’s Cathedral, King James II described it as ‘amusing, awful and artificial.’ This was because amusing carried the sense of being captivating; awful of being majestic and artificial of being skilful, displaying art. Right through the fifteenth century, silly meant holy, in the sixteenth century helpless; the seventeenth homely; eighteenth rustic; nineteenth weak in the mind; and today it means foolish and trivial.

Tap-root

Another instance of the contraction of meaning of borrowed words is the English ‘master’ which means boss, teacher, commander, very adept, chairman and lord. In Hindi, a master is only a teacher.

— Deepti