Comment by carlosjobim
3 hours ago
No, there's an original and correct meaning. Just because a majority might be wrong, doesn't make them right.
3 hours ago
No, there's an original and correct meaning. Just because a majority might be wrong, doesn't make them right.
Language evolves. Historical meaning can inform our understanding of modern usage but doesn’t dictate or govern it.
Linguists call this “semantic drift” and it occurs in every language we know of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change
Wikipedias first English example is:
Awful – Literally "full of awe", originally meant "inspiring wonder (or fear)", hence "impressive". In contemporary usage, the word means "extremely bad".
Possibly even more directly, the etymological fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymological_fallacy