John Stammers

Changes in content, lexis and semantics Page 82: Classroom Activity 3

Semantic shifts occur when words expand and contract before settling on new meanings that are very different from the original. Semantic shift/change/drift can occur the following ways: Gradually, over time, as old meanings become forgotten In response to a new context for a particular word, e.g. technology As current slang where a particular social group takes ownership of an existing word and changes it to suit the new purpose/context they intend

Examples: Word
Doctor Gay Virus

Semantic Change
During the 1300s doctor meant church father according to Old French and meant teacher in classical Latin. Nowadays we understand the word doctor refers to someone who treats sick people, but this th definition didnt come about until sometime during the early 18 century. The Old French meaning of gai meant joyful, happy, pleasant and didnt become a slang term for homosexuality until the late 1940s. The original Latin meaning of virus was a venomous substance and for many years was used as a word to mean poison by other languages, including Greek and Welsh gwy. 1728 was the first year the modern meaning, agent that causes infectious diseases, was ever recorded and wasnt adapted in the computer sense until 1972. Guts used in the context to describe someone with spirit or courage was not used until 1893, this is because in the past guts simply referred to the bowels and it was a traditional belief the bowels were the seat of the spirit. The first recorder use of the word punk meant Chinese incense, which was recorded in 1870. It only began to adopt the negative connotations we associate with the word punk in the modern day, during the early 1900s. In 1904, it was recorder that punk meant criminals apprentice and in 1917 it meant worthless person. In 1923, the word punk came to mean young boy, inexperienced person and was associated with show business. Although, the young criminal definition most likely influenced the punk rock genre, which first surfaced in 1971. The original Latin meant common, ordinary and was an adjective often used to describe common people. The more modern meaning of vulgar was first recorded in the 1640s, meaning coarse, low and ill-bred. The word web was originally Old English for woven fabric, woven work and tapestry. The first time it was used in the context of spiders web was sometime during the 1300s and in the 1570s was adapted to describe the membrane between the toes of a duck. It wasnt used as a shortened version of World Wide Web until 1992. To mean small rodents has been used since Old English but since then most other meanings have become outmoded. For example, in the mid-1300s, mouse was used as a verb in reference to hunting mice. The Proto-Germanic definition of mouse referred to a muscle of the arm. Also, in 1842, it was recorder that mouse was another way of saying black eye. Although, the modern sense of mouse, in relation to the device that controls the cursor on a computer screen, wasnt used until 1965. The modern meaning of problems in the household and often associated with the emotive term domestic violence, used to simply mean belonging to the household in Latin. Greek, Avestan and Sanskrit words for domestic simply mean, home. Therefore, it is clear the definition has not shifted too far from its original meaning but has since acquired negative connotations. We could therefore argue this is an example of pejoration. The current slang term for hooded sweatshirt was once used as a term for the hooded crow, with 1789 being the earliest time hoodie or hoody was used in this context. The Old English original definition was to die and later moved on to become stiff. It wasnt unt il the th 1400s that the definition narrowed to dying of one particular thing, which during the 15 century meant, die of a cold. It wasnt until the following century, during the 1500s that it meant either die of hunger or kill with hunger.

Guts Punk

Vulgar Web

Mouse

A domestic

Hoodie Starve

All information regarding semantic change came from the following website: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=doctor