We hope you鈥檝e never been the victim of a bully, but if you have, we know you鈥檇 never describe your tormentor as 鈥渆xcellent, a jovial sweetheart…鈥� Surprisingly, bully carried these cheerful meanings as far back as the 1500s. Bully was even used as a synonym for lover. Somewhere in the 1600s, the 鈥渇ine fellow鈥�听lost his charm and became a 鈥渉arasser of the weak.鈥� The identity crisis gets messier in the 1700s, when bully also meant 鈥減rotector of a prostitute.”
No, we aren’t talking about a hint in a scavenger hunt, and we’re not talking about the board game turned into the 1985 classic film staring Tim Curry. Nope,听clue used to mean a ball of yarn. The thread interweaving our modern understanding of clue with its ancestor clew winds back to鈥攜ep鈥攖he 1500s, when its meaning in Old English was less exciting than it is today.听
The cuddly, squishy, ooshy-wooshiness associated with cute today wouldn鈥檛 have been understood in the 1700s. Agh! How would we describe 鈥淐ute Cat Pushing Kitty in Cart鈥� back then?! Sorry, we digress. The word cute three centuries ago was a shortened form of acute, and thus something that was cute was 鈥渃lever鈥� or 鈥渒een.鈥�
Plug your nose, here it goes! So,听defecate used to mean 鈥渢o cleanse, or purify.鈥� Huh. Makes no sense, right? It starts to become clear when you look at where this word comes from:听the Latin phrase听de faece (鈥渇rom dregs鈥�). In this sense, feces describes any kind of sediment. You defecate your coffee feces in the trash. You actually taste wine feces (or lees) when you drink a complex, full-bodied glass of chardonnay. We鈥檝e had defecate in the gutter for far too long, especially when we learn that its poopy sense wasn鈥檛 even used until the 1800s! In the history of time and defecation, that鈥檚 really recent.
The modern-day meaning of ejaculate has been around since the 1570s, and was shortly followed by a second meaning: 鈥渢o exclaim suddenly.鈥� Curiously, despite the apparent co-existence of these meanings over time, the second meaning for听ejaculate听was perfectly acceptable in the day-to-day conversation of conservative 1800s society. That’s certainly changed.
Facetious听has done a complete 180 over the years. What once meant elegant, refined, and courteous now means to make light of serious issues, in a humorous, sarcastic, or frivolous way. It’s basically impossible to share both of these characteristics at once, unless you’re Frasier Crane.
You know how sometimes all it takes is one “eye-five” at a bar (you know, when eyes meet? Just roll with it), for someone to think you鈥檙e flirting? Unfortunately, that鈥檚 a fairly frequent scenario, and if the archaic meaning of flirt had any oomph now, the person-who-shall-remain-clueless would know to head the other way. In the 1500s (we鈥檙e ba-ack!), flirting meant 鈥渢o turn up one鈥檚 nose or sneer at鈥�, or 鈥渢o flick, as with the fingers.鈥澨�
Guy has had a long journey: First, a rope or chain, then a proper noun, and finally, a way of addressing a group of…anyone, really. Guy became a听proper noun thanks to Guy Fawkes, a plotter in the failed assassination attempt of King James I in 1605. Guy鈥檚 face has since become a symbol of protest against tyranny (thanks, in large part, to illustrator David Lloyd鈥檚 caricature mask designed for V for Vendetta). The word guy eventually described a 鈥済rotesquely or poorly dressed person鈥� in early 1800s Britain, and it didn鈥檛 achieve its informal status as 鈥渇ellow鈥� in American English until the 1840s.
Long ago, hussy was merely a synonym for housewife or mistress of the household (the Old English word for house is hus). Originally pronounced huzzy, it gradually came to embrace all women and girls. But, by the 1650s, hussy acquired negative connotations, signifying a female who behaved improperly (By whose standards? We’ll let you guess). By the 1700s, hussies were lewd, immoral, mischievous, and promiscuous women.听
Pretty听started out in听Old English as听辫谤忙迟迟颈驳, meaning 鈥渢ricky, crafty, wily.鈥� Then in the 1300s, pretty grew a full beard and bounded through fire to save damsels in distress. This 鈥渕anly, gallant鈥� sense gradually gave way by the 1400s to the more familiar 鈥渁ttractive鈥� and 鈥渂eautiful in a slight way.鈥�
Sheesh. An offensive term bloated with meaning! Slut听made its first appearance on paper in 1402 and referred to 鈥渦ntidy鈥� and 鈥渟lovenly鈥� habits or appearance. Of course, the term was usually applied to a woman (often a servant), but Chaucer was at least one author who used 鈥渟luttish鈥� to describe a man鈥檚 appearance (we knew we liked that guy!). At least as early as the 1660s, slut听also referred to a rag dipped in lard and burned as a light, or slut lamp. Contemporary usage runs the gamut, from the sense of vilification against women (slut-bashing, slut-shaming), reclamation by some women (SlutWalk, slut pride), and as a non-slur suffix meaning 鈥渟omeone who is passionate about鈥� (volunteer-slut, kale-slut, bungee-jumping-slut). As far as we’re concerned, this word isn’t done evolving.
In the 1500s, being brave wasn’t a positive trait: It actually meant you were boastful. It鈥檚 not a stretch to see the connection between bravery and boasting (think of those plucky people centuries on who still like to crow about their courage). The link becomes even clearer when we see the brav[e] in bravado, or the pompous display of valiance. We might do well to heed our Medieval Latin elders, whose bravo meant 鈥渨ild, savage,鈥� and bravus 鈥渃utthroat, villain鈥� when we describe a person or act as 鈥渂rave.鈥� There鈥檚 a fine line between courage and recklessness!
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