Mere Christianity – C. S. Lewis (1952)
This passage got me thinking about the evolution of words.
Semantic change, shift, progression, development, and drift have all been used to describe this process, sometimes it is just a slight alteration but, often it is so radicle that over time the word has a completely different meaning and usage.
I would associate the word humble as someone being modest, and humbled as being brought down a peg or two, knocked-off a pedestal, or high horse when they have gotten a bit above themselves. I do not readily think it to mean someone that is smarmy.
There again the word smarmy has had several connotations. Over the years, it has meant someone that is insincere, a liar, or an extreme politeness, showing a lot of respect in an annoying way. Mostly however, it reflects those that are fooling no one by trying to be suave and charming. The type of people that want others to be in awe of them.
That brings me to another everyday word that we now use so differently. The word awful has the origins of meaning worthy of awe, a common phrase at that time was, the awful majesty of God. Today, rather than it being something worthy of striving towards it is the complete opposite. The common understanding these days is of something being very bad, or unpleasant, or unacceptable to the point of not being nice.
Nice, here we go again. This was used as a criticism, silly, foolish, and simple rather than the compliment it is today.
Silly has also changed in the opposite direction. In early use, it referred to things being worthy or blessed, then it evolved into something being weak and vulnerable, and foolish. Later this became a derogatory term for someone being naughty.
So, let’s have a look at naughty. Today it broadly means being badly behaved, but long ago it was the label given to one having naught or nothing. Then that it was associated with being evil or immoral.
I love the interplay of words and meanings, and the clues they communicate of the past.
Clues … now there’s another one. Centuries ago it was simply a ball of yarn (clew) and developed into the meaning known today because it was used as a pathfinder through the maze, as found at most reputable country estates, to solve the mystery of which way to go.
So, there you have it. The humble word can often tell us far more about history than we ever realised.