In a previous post, I asked, “What does it mean to know a word?” and explained that the answer is, “It depends!” The reason why “it depends” is because word knowledge is not an either-or proposition. It is not correct to say that someone either knows a word or doesn’t. Instead, word knowledge (both correct and incorrect beliefs about the word) accumulates over time, rather as a snowball rolling down a ski hill accumulates snowflakes as well as stones, dirt, grass, and sticks.
The Mental Lexicon
Linguists use the metaphor of “the mental lexicon” to describe place where accumulated word knowledge resides in an individual. This metaphor is necessary, because neurologically speaking, there is no actual brain organelle that holds word knowledge; various bits of knowledge are almost instantaneously connected via complicated networks of billions of neurons in the brain. In other words, word knowledge is not a fixed state, it is an ongoing process of construction and reconstruction.
Word knowledge in the mental lexicon can be described as having seven dimensions: (1) phonological, (2) orthographic, (3) syntactic, (4) semantic, (5) pragmatic, (6) schematic, and (7) morphological/etymological. My previous post, “What does it mean to know a word?” described each of these dimensions.
As an individual’s word knowledge grows and modifies, synchronous changes may occur in the ways words are used by speakers and writers in the language community.
Categories of Word Meaning Change
There are several categories of word-meaning change that can occur over time, by the way, including: (1) generalization, (2) specialization, (3) amelioration, (4) pejoration, and (5) figurative use.
Today’s post will focus on generalization. The next several posts will discuss the other categories of word-meaning change.
Generalization
Generalization involves the broadening or extension of word meaning. Here are seven examples that I found within the past week with my students. When we stumble upon terms that we think have undergone word meaning change, we take time to research and discuss the nature of the changes.
1. The word “Kleenex” is a trademarked brand name. According to the manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corporation, “Kleenex® Tissue was originally designed in 1924 as a cold cream remover; hence, the “Kleen” portion of the word was coined to convey the cleansing purpose. We then added the “ex” from Kotex® in order to convey what was the beginning of a family of products” (Staff, 2021). Within a few years of its inception, this novel facial tissue product became ubiquitous in American households, and soon other manufacturers emulated the product. Now the term “kleenex”has undergone generalization and is used by many as a term for any type of facial tissue.
2. Similarly, the word “google” has undergone generalization. According to Douglas Harper (2021), the creator of the wonderful Online Etymology Dictionary, term “google” now means “to search (something) on the Google search engine,” 2000 (do a google on was used by 1999). “ That term “google” is often extended by many to mean “to look something up on a search engine” -not just the Google browser.
3. Another example of word meaning generalization can be found in “manufacture.” On its face, the word means “to make” (< facere (Latin) = to do, make) “by hand” (< mane, manis (L) = hand). This term was coined prior to the industrial revolution, when all products were made by hand. By the 19th century, the meaning of “manufacture” had broadened to “the process of making” something, and that broadened meaning persists today.
4. Yet another example of word meaning generalization is found in the word “vintage,” which entered the English lexicon in the late Middle English period. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Onions, Burchfield, & Friedrichsen, 1966), “vintage” was an alteration (influenced by vintner) of earlier vendage, which came from Old French vendange, which came from Latin vindemia (from vinum ‘wine’ + demere ‘remove’). Harper (2021) explains that the sense of the word shifted to “age or year of a particular wine” (1746), then to a general adjectival sense of “being of an earlier time” (1883). Used of cars since 1928.”
5. The word “dunce” provides another interesting example of word meaning generalization. The term entered the lexicon in the early 16th century: it was “originally an epithet for a follower of John Duns Scotus, whose followers were ridiculed by 16th-century humanists and reformers as enemies of learning” (Onions, Burchfield, & Friedrichsen, 1966). Across the following century, the term extended to “a general term of reproach” (Harper, 2021) used to describe someone who is obstinate, gradually extending further into its current sense of “a dull-witted student” (Harper, 2021).
6. Word-meaning generalization can also be seen in the noun “respite,” which had an original sense of “grant a delay or extension of time to; reprieve from death or execution.” The word entered the English lexicon from Norman French and traces back to Old French respit, which is descended from Latin respectus ‘refuge, consideration’. The current senses of (1) a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant, and (2) a short delay permitted before an unpleasant obligation is met or a punishment is carried out, both illustrate the phenomenon of word-meaning generalization.
7. Etymologically, “rebel” comes from the Latin verb rebellir, which breaks down into its prefix re- (back, again) and its root bellum (war). Onions, Burchfield, & Friedrichsen (1966) say “rebel” was “used originally with reference to a fresh declaration of war by the defeated.” The generalized sense we use today, “make war against anything deemed oppressive,” traces back to the late 14c, according to Harper (2021).
As you might infer, there are thousands of examples of word-meaning generalizations in English, but hopefully these seven illustrate the phenomenon. My next post will focus on another category of word-meaning change: specialization! I look forward to sharing some great examples that my students and I found to illustrate that form of meaning change.
REFERENCES
Anonymous (2021). Semantic narrowing. Etymologies at CTY Bristol WIKI. Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from https://etmlbristol.fandom.com/wiki/Semantic_narrowing
Anonymous (2021). Semantic widening. Etymologies at CTY Bristol WIKI. Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from https://etmlbristol.fandom.com/wiki/Semantic_widening
Harper, Douglas (2021). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from etymonline.com
Nordquist, Richard (2019, October 3). Amelioration (word meanings: Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms. New York: Thought Co. Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from https://www.thoughtco.com/amelioration-word-meanings-1689082
Onions, C.T., Burchfield, R.W., & Friedrichsen, G.W.S. (1966). Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press.
Reilly, Lucas. (2021, August 10). 18 Words that used to mean something negative. Mental Floss. Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51770/24-words-used-mean-something-negative
Semantic change. (n.d.) Wikipedia.org. (2014). Retrieved on November 6, 2021 from https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Semantic+change
Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Staff (2021). Everything you want to know about Kleenex Tissue. Kimberly-Clark Corporation. Retrieved on November 11, 2021 from https://www.kleenex.com/en-us/faq#:~:text=Kleenex%C2%AE%20Tissue%20was%20originally,of%20a%20family%20of%20products.
Yule, George (2020). The Study of Language (7th edition). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.