The Unexpected Evolution of Language (18 page)

ludicrous

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
pertaining to play or sport

NEW DEFINITION:
ridiculous to the point of being funny

The original Latin word that gave rise to “ludicrous” meant game or play. For the sake of argument, assume that ancient Romans played tiddlywinks and Twister at home and ran footraces outdoors. These, therefore, were “ludicrous” pursuits. Later, the Latin word transformed in meaning to denote “something that amuses.” While it’s true that games are amusements, so are jokes and tricks.

By the time “ludicrous” entered English, sometime in the early 1600s, it shifted back to meaning “having to do with sport.” Thus, jousting was “ludicrous.”

As the 1700s ended, however, “ludicrous” made another shift, re-emphasizing “something that amuses.” In fact, it took that concept to an extreme. Since the early 1800s, “ludicrous” has meant “excessively ridiculous.” One connection is that, when someone says something ludicrous, it’s as though he or she is playing a game with you.

luxury

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
sexual intercourse (principally for the “not fun” purpose of procreation)

NEW DEFINITION:
something unnecessary that makes life more pleasurable

If you haven’t had it in a while, then sex may feel like a luxury. You don’t
need
it, but it sure would be nice to have. During the Middle Ages, sex literally was a “luxury.” The words were synonyms.

The connection was in the word’s roots, which suggest excessive or sinful self-indulgence. For thousands of years, the purpose of sex was for procreation within a marriage. It wasn’t for fun, and it certainly wasn’t for unmarried couples (or for adulterers or for same-sex partners).

Despite all the abjurations against it, love has always been made “inappropriately.” That’s likely why the word stopped having a negative tone as early as the seventeenth century. At that point, “luxury” began to refer to goods, rather than to people having sex. There was still a sense of self-indulgence that accompanied luxury items, but then, as now, folks (who weren’t Puritans, that is) weren’t too bothered by self-indulgence.

By the late eighteenth century, luxury came to mean a certain level of excess—like today, when it refers to cable television, DVR, unlimited texting, and steak every weekend. Though, for some lonely folks, sex remains a luxury.

M

manufacture

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
to make, as goods, by hand

NEW DEFINITION:
to mass-produce goods on a machine

If you look at the word manufacture, it suggests that something is made (“fac”) by hand (“manu”). And for part of the Middle Ages, that’s just what “manufacture” meant. A skilled artisan would “manufacture” goods, possibly with the help of apprentices.

Even before the industrial revolution, which began around 1750, machines began to replace human beings during part of the manufacturing process. As more and more machines “came online,” handcrafted goods became ever scarcer.

Since “manufacture” already meant “to produce stuff,” it was an easy lexical leap to refer to mass-produced items as being “manufactured.” After all, someone had to operate the machines, and some parts of the manufacturing process probably were still done by hand well into the modern era.

Nonetheless, for hundreds of years, “manufacture” has been synonymous with “mass-produced,” and goods made entirely by hand are as rare as skilled artisans.

meddle

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
to mix; mingle

NEW DEFINITION:
to interfere in someone else’s business

“Meddle” wasn’t always a negative word. Until the late 1300s, “meddle” was a synonym for “mix.” You would “meddle” the ingredients of a stew. You would “meddle” with friends … as in, intermingle with them. You’d “meddle” paints to get a new color.

“Meddle” first got a bad name—or at least an impolite one—starting in the late 1300s. For the next 300 years, people used “meddle” as a euphemism for sexual intercourse: “Did you hear? Bob is meddling Jackie.”

As “meddle” fell into the gutter, it gained a negative connotation. When it wasn’t being used to describe extramarital affairs, it still suggested “mixing”—but “mixing” where one wasn’t welcome. Thus, by the 1400s, “meddle” was pejorative. The word “meddler,” used to describe someone like Gladys Kravitz—the quintessential meddler from the TV series
Bewitched
—arrived later that century.

minion

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
a favorite

NEW DEFINITION:
a sycophant

When “minion” was born, it did not have a pejorative ring. It suggested someone who was a follower, yes, but he or she was not hated by others. A “minion” was a king’s favorite subject, a business owner’s favorite employee. Others, on the outside, might have looked up to someone else’s “minions.” The word, after all, has roots that mean: tender, love, and memory. A “minion” was someone you thought well of, in other words.

By the eighteenth century, however, “minion” began to gain its current, negative ring. In light of democracy and self-realization, “minions” became known for their slavish conformity to someone else. In addition, simple jealousy played a part in the word’s transformation. No one ever likes the teacher’s pet, right?

Nowadays, that’s the association one is likely to make with “minions.” You might speak of your boss’s minions, for example, when you’re thinking about those servile sycophants who chase around the Big Kahuna like little, hungry puppies. And where would a bad guy be without his minions? While he masterminds the overthrow of the world—or at least Gotham City—his “little people” can flit about causing various forms of mayhem and chaos.

Henchmen vs. Evil Minions

Bad guys need either evil minions or henchmen. As noted, “minion” wasn’t always a negative word. Neither was “henchman.”

Originally, a henchman was a horse groom, someone who took care of a wealthy man’s horses. “Hench” is an Old English word via German that means “horse.” The word fell out of favor by the seventeenth century, but it was revived by Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott. Scott believed “henchmen” suggested a man who stands at his master’s “haunches,” i.e., someone ready at a moment’s notice to leap to his defense.

Scott’s use of the word, which suggested sycophantic qualities, led to the modern sense of a henchman as someone who does the bidding of a bad guy.

miscreant

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
infidel

NEW DEFINITION:
unscrupulous person; ne’er-do-well

Initially, being a “miscreant” could get you killed or at least tortured to the point at which death would have been welcome.

During the Crusades (a war fought among Christians, Jews, and Muslims between 1095 and 1274), Christian knights went in search of “miscreants.” To them, the word meant, literally, “not believing,” as in, someone who does not profess the Christian faith. God himself is the only one who knows how many “miscreants” were killed, maimed, spindled, or mutilated during that period.

Over time, the word “miscreant” softened. By the time Edmund Spenser used it in the late sixteenth century, the word simply meant villain or unscrupulous person. The religious element had all but disappeared.

Nowadays, a miscreant is simply a juvenile delinquent, someone who shoplifts, or someone who has a drawer full of parking tickets. Basically, he or she has done something wrong but is not diabolical. There’s a chance that he or she can be reformed before it’s too late.

mogul

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
Mongol emperor

NEW DEFINITION:
rich, powerful person

A nomadic group of central Asians called the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, conquered China and much of Asia in the early decades of the thirteenth century. In what we now call the Middle East, the Mongols effectively committed genocide, killing up to three-fourths of the region’s men, women, and children. Iran’s population didn’t reach pre-Mongol levels again until the twentieth century! In short, these were powerful (and not very nice) guys.

Gradually, the Mongols lost some of their power. But then they were rallied by Tamerlane (also known as Timur), who served as the inspiration for Shakespeare-contemporary Christopher Marlowe’s
Tamburlaine the Great
. Tamerlane died, and once again, it looked like the Mongol empire was over.

Then, in 1526, a descendant of Tamerlane named Babar (or Barbur) invaded and conquered portions of India, calling it the Mogul Empire. “Mogul” was from a Persian word for the Mongols. The Moguls stayed in control of India well into the nineteenth century. Even after they were just figureheads, Mogul emperors made tons of money thanks to British trading throughout India. Thus, “mogul” (with a lowercase “m”) came to mean any rich, powerful individual.

Another Mogul

The type of mogul one finds in skiing comes from a completely different root. It comes from Norwegian and German words that mean heap or mound.

moron

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
official designation for an adult with a mental age of eight to twelve years old

NEW DEFINITION:
generic insult for someone acting foolishly

No one wants to be called a moron. It’s an insult used on playgrounds everywhere. At one time, however, it was the serious, “scientific” term for someone with mild mental disabilities.

The word was coined in 1910 and is based on a Greek word meaning dull. A “moron” was more developed mentally than an imbecile (IQ of 26 to 50; see entry for “imbecile”) or an idiot (IQ of 0 to 25; see entry for “idiot”). All these terms were popularized by the also incredibly non-PC-to-today’s-ears American Association for the Study of the Feeble-Minded.