The herald., 1893-01-22
CHANGES In WORDS.
STRANGE DEPARTURES MADE FROM
ORIGINAL MEANINGS.

Many Words which Today Mean Almost
the Opposite of That Which They Stood
for Many Years Ago-Here Arc Few
Examples of Changes of Meaning.
The word Bible furnishes a striking
instance of words rise from very low
to high estate. To the bulk of English
speaking folk it now means the Book of
Books. In Chaucer's day it meant any
book whatever. or scroll. Tracing the
word Bible straight home we find it
but another name for the papyrus reed
of Egypt Cancellarius is another word
which has risen from humble origin to
high rank. Under the early Roman en-
perors it meant simply doorkeeper, by
which token Gibbon speaks of the
wrath of the people of Rome when the
worthless Emperor Carinus set his low
born cancellarius to rule over them.
And nowadays the lord high chancellor
of England-though shorn of some of
the influence he welded in the days of
Thurlow and Eldon-ranks rather high
er than mere doorkeeper. Consul is
word which retains scarce a shred Of
its olden grandeur. During their year
of office Rome's consuls twain ranked
above kings, and Cicero's pride in hay
ing filled this lofty post seems likely to
live forever in that luckless jingle of
his:
o fortu natum uatum, me consule Romaml
But now nearly every fourth rate town
ON the face of the globe can boast half a
dozen consuls. The Courteney motto,
'Quid feci? Ubi lapsusr might fit not
only this poor, degraded word, but the
name of Cicero himself, which, under
the thin disguise Of cicerone, now decks
every gabbling guide who hashes names.
dates and the queens English, or what
ever may chance to be his mother tongue.
Patricius, in its English shape, patrician
-unmangled-still keeps some of its old
dignity. But, to quote Gibbon. 1.-The
meanest subjects of the Roman empire
assumed the illustrious title Patricius,
which, by the conversion of Ireland, has
been communicated to a whole nation.
Gibbon-who sometimes fails to make
his meaning clear--here means that lre-
lands missionary, Succathus by name.
received the title Patricius, whence st,
Patrick, whence Pat.
See how villanus has sunk. At the
outset it meant the worthy hind who
titled the broad acres surrounding a
Roman squire's country seat. (For villa
another word which has gone down in
the world-originally indicated, not a
snug suburban dwelling but demesne
as well as mansion.) In the Middle
Ages, however, villanus, or villein, came
to mean a downtrodden tiller of the
soil, who could scarcely call his soul
his own, and whose gross i'll treatment
bore its fruit-gross i'll conduct Hence
the rank i'll odor in which the once
harmless word villain now lies stepped.
Note, too, how sophist has sunk At
its birth sophites-from sophia. wisdom
meant wise man. Had it acquired a
taint even when Pythagoras eschewed it
as too arrogant? Or was it sheer mod
esty that led him to coin for himself the
unpretending word philosophers, lover of
wisdom? Anyhow, sophist has sunk so
low that it now denotes one skilled in
the base art of making the worse appear
the better reason. Hypocrite has shared
the fate of sophist. Originally the sole
and entirely honorable sense of upok.
rees was actor ON the stage-not, as
now, an actor off it, sly sinner feign-
ing himself virtuous. Our word actor
and still more actress-has acquired q
kindred taint, not from any fault in
those who use the art behind the foot
lights, but from the frailty of those who
abuse it by playing part on life's stage,
instead of showing themselves manfully
in their true colors.
Cunning has sunk so low that it can
scarce sink lower. 1t now means 'cute.
and cute bears a perilous resemblance
to sharper-which we might define as
"one who would deem it an insult to be
told that he had missed a chance oi
duping fiat" Yet knowing-now al
most synonym for sharper, and com
monty linked very significantly with
card-"He's a knowing card"-original
ly meant kenning, or crafty in that hon,
orable sense Of craft which still lives in
craftsman and handicraft. Nay. at root
cunning and kenning are one and the
same word. of which king itself is but 9
shortened form.
For our English forefathers-let them
be English, not Anglo-Saxon, If only al
a tribute to the memory of the great
historian so lately lost to u.s. who spent
half lifetime in trying to teach us tina,
Englishmen are Englishmen, and always
have been since first they set foot OF
British soil-our English forefathers
then. chose for their ruler the most Gun
: ming man they could find. And thu
word king lives on unsullied, as If tt
point the disgrace Of its old yoke mate
The disgrace, however, is of recent date
Could words speak, idiot--which is bu
Greek docked of its last syllable-migh
cry with poor Ophelia, I'VE know wha
we are; we know not what we may be.
1t meant man not clothed with publ,
functions; it means man unfit for any
In the spacious days of great Eliza
beth" noise signified band of music
At least Shakespeare uses the word il
{ that sense. But this pleasing sense i
, has wholly shed, although, by the bye
! the ernthet pleasing" would hardl,
have passed muster with the lat
Alexander Dumas, who once defined
! music as 'the costiliest of noises.