The Unexpected Evolution of Language (15 page)

As standup comedy became an industry in the mid-twentieth century, “heckle” began to forge a connection with people who try to “outdo” those onstage, and it lost its connection to anything useful.

hospital

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
poorhouse; inn

NEW DEFINITION:
place in which one receives medical treatment

“Hospital” conjures up scary images of doctors, gurneys, x-rays, and very long needles. But at one time, a “hospital” was not a medical center at all. It was a place in which the poor and needy lived.

You don’t need to be an etymologist to see the “visual” connection among words like hospital, hotel, hostel, and hospice. All these words share Latin roots that refer to foreigners or strangers. They are places for temporary shelter.

Over time, a hospital stopped being a place for the poor and became an inn, a place where a visitor was shown hospitality. Over time, the word “hospital” became specialized, just like its “cousins,” hotel and hostel. A hotel is a place to stay for a while when you travel. A hospital is a place to stay for awhile because you’re sick.

hussy

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
contraction of housewife

NEW DEFINITION:
impertinent woman of loose morals

“Hussy” was once an early English contraction of the Middle English “husewif,” or “housewife.” “Hussies” were women who stayed home, raised the kids, milked the cows, and did as they were told. Around the turn of the seventeenth century, “hussy” began to be used to describe any woman or girl. She didn’t have to be a housewife or even married.

As the word broadened in meaning, it started to be used in a pejorative sense. Class distinctions were at the root of the semantic shift. Women of the lower classes such as milkmaids, farm workers, and spinsters (see entry for “spinster”) were typically called “hussies.” Then, as now, many believed that the poor were poor because they deserved to be. They must be lazy and shiftless, or they wouldn’t be poor. In short, they’re bad.

Thus, by the end of the eighteenth century, “hussy” was a completely negative word. A (shameless) hussy was (and is) impertinent, disagreeable, and possesses loose morals.

hysterical

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
of the womb

NEW DEFINITION:
really funny; overwrought

The word “hysterical” derives from the Greek word for womb, and initially, it referred to the womb itself. Then, (male) scientists of old believed they had discovered a neurotic condition peculiar to women, when they acted odd or “crazy.” “Hmm, how come women are like this and men aren’t?” they pondered. (Of course, no one seemed to think men had a problem even though they waged war regularly.)

Anyway, these ancients might finally have said, “Eureka!” (The word “eureka” was coined by the Greeks), the problem must be in the uterus! Men don’t have them; women do. That’s it! Pregnancy was sometimes “prescribed” to make women less “hysterical.”

By the early twentieth century, “hysterical” came to mean funny or emotionally overpowering because of its association with uncontrollable emotions.

Of course, the related word, “hysteria,” still suggests a neurotic condition, but it’s no longer limited to just one gender.

I

iconoclast

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
destroyer of images

NEW DEFINITION:
one who eschews established beliefs

Tension between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches of early Christianity gave English the modern word “bugger” (see entry for “bugger”). It also bequeathed “iconoclast.”

These two faiths split early, but most people don’t know that they ever had any connection to one another. Greek Orthodox (Eastern Orthodoxy in America) priests can marry, for example. The Greek Orthodox Church doesn’t believe in the Immaculate Conception of Mary (that she was conceived without sin). And they don’t believe in having lots of religious imagery.

To this day, some insult Roman Catholics because they “worship statues.” They actually don’t worship statues, but their churches do contain a lot of icons, or religious images. That’s been true for centuries.

During the eighth and ninth centuries, some members of the Eastern Orthodox Church began to go through Roman Catholic churches and destroy some of these icons. “Iconoclast” is an Anglicized version of Greek words that mean “icon breaker.”

By the nineteenth century, some writers began to broaden the scope of “iconoclast.” They used the term to describe anyone who rejected orthodox beliefs—orthodox with a small “o,” that is, meaning beliefs that are common. Thus, if everyone says that the sky is blue and you say the sky is green, then you’re an iconoclast. Or, some might say, merely a butthead.

idiot

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
layman; uneducated person

NEW DEFINITION:
generic insult used to suggest someone lacks intelligence

Initially, the word “idiot” just referred to a layman, as opposed to a skilled worker, or it referred to an uneducated person, as opposed to someone who had attended a university. In other words, it was an elitist term, thrown at people considered rabble by the medieval version of the bourgeoisie.

By the early modern era, an “idiot” referred to a stupid person. Consider, for example, Shakespeare’s famous line from
Macbeth
, “Life … is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” William Faulkner borrowed the line some 300 years later to title his book, and the Bard’s words suggest that the terrible misfortunes one experiences in life occur because humanity is in the middle of an idiot’s story.

In Faulkner’s book,
The Sound and the Fury
(published in 1929), the first section is narrated by Benjy Compson, a thirty-three-year-old man with the intelligence level of a three-year-old. He is referred to as an “idiot,” which, at that time, was a recently coined technical term for someone with very low intelligence. So, for that matter were “moron” and “imbecile” (see entries for “imbecile” and “moron”). Though in the early twentieth century, psychologists used “idiot” as a technical term, the word soon became a generic insult to someone’s intelligence and stopped being used as an official medical designation.

Athenian Idiots

All people are born idiots. If you’ve ever found yourself believing this, then you are not a misanthrope. You’re just a fan of ancient Greek philosophy.

The Athenians believed that all people are born idiots. To them, this meant that everyone is born selfish and focused on his or her own private affairs. The “cure” for idiocy was education. Once someone was educated, he or she attained citizenship. For Athenians, citizenship was a primary virtue. It meant one was focused on the good of all and not just on what was good for oneself.

ignoramus

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
legal term meaning “we do not know”

NEW DEFINITION:
stupid person

“Ignoramus” is Latin for “we do not know,” and it was a legal term until 1615. If a grand jury found that an indictment contained insufficient evidence, it would write “ignoramus” on the document. The meaning, basically, was “we don’t recognize the validity of this indictment.” It had nothing to do with stupidity … yet.

That changed in 1615, when Cambridge University produced a comedy by George Ruggle called
Ignoramus
. The title’s eponymous character is a magistrate who thinks he’s pretty smart. He isn’t. As a result of his obvious (to the audience, not to him) willful ignorance, Mr. Ignoramus is subjected to all sorts of humiliating experiences.

The play was a rousing success. Almost immediately, therefore, “ignoramus” stopped being a legal term and became a word that denotes a foolish person, especially one who thinks he
isn’t
foolish.

ill

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
evil

NEW DEFINITION:
sick

“Ill’s” origin is an Old Norse word meaning “malevolent” or “hurtful.” In other words, one had to
choose
to be “ill.” By the fifteenth century, the word began to develop the meaning with which it is typically associated today.

The change was metaphorical. If someone is “ill,” meaning “evil,” then they seem sick or unwell to those who are nice and agreeable. And often, evil actions create an unwell or ailing society.

The word “ill” underwent another shift in the 1980s, taking on its opposite meaning. Hip-hop artists, who became masters at taking negative words and making them positive (“dope,” “sick”) would say it was “ill.” Sometimes, you’ll still hear the word used that way.

Scottish Ills

While you might hear of someone absconding with ill-gotten gains, the word is rarely used today to describe someone who is bad … unless he lives in Scotland. The Scots still use “ill” as a synonym for evil. For the rest of the English-speaking world, however, “ill” means “an excuse not to go to work.”

imbecile

ORIGINAL DEFINITION:
weak; feeble

NEW DEFINITION:
generic insult impugning someone’s intelligence

“Imbecile” has gone through a couple of permutations. Its Latin word of origin meant literally “without a staff.” Well, if you didn’t have a staff—the club variety, not the “walking stick” variety—then you were weaker than your opponent. Thus, the word meant “feeble” or “weak.”

Jump ahead a couple thousand years, and psychologist Henry H. Goddard popularized the word “imbecile” as a technical term for people with an IQ of 26–50. Goddard also promoted the terms “idiot” and “moron” (see entries for “idiot” and “moron”). An “imbecile” was classified between a “moron” and an “idiot” on the intelligence scale.