OE semantics
Semantic change: terminology
Shifts in denotation
§ OE wann ‘dark, gloomy, black’ -> PDE ‘pale’
§ OE sae:lig ‘timely, fortunate, blessed’ (OE sael ‘time’) -> -> PDE silly
o (cf French crétin ‘Christian’)
o Language is transmitted discontinuously
Arbitrariness of semantic change
§ words from the same ‘family’ will commonly diverge
o seethe and sodden
o read and ready
§ ‘same’ word in different languages will develop differently
o knight, German Knecht
Can you generalize about semantic change in English?
§ OE feoh ‘cattle’, OE rice ‘noble, powerful’
o ?general monetarization of transactional terms? (Hughes)
§ Norman conquest: lots of loanwords from more prestigious language(s)
o narrowing and pejoration of native words?
Some OE words have ‘generalized’ (less information, more situations)
o OE brid ‘young bird’ -> young and old
o cf. chicken ‘young of the domestic fowl’ -> young and old
o cf. pigeon ‘young dove’ -> young and old
More have ‘narrowed’ (more information, fewer situations)
o OE fugol ‘any bird’ -> ‘domesticated bird’
o OE mete 'any solid food' -> 'flesh food'
o OE déor ‘any sort of wild quadruped’ ->
Old meanings may survive in
o compounds: e.g. waterfowl, sweetmeat
o fixed/fossil phrases: e.g. the quick and the dead
Some OE words have remained in ‘higher’ register
o OE neah ‘near’ -> PDE nigh
Others have pejorated (downward move in evaluative attitude, often due to social prejudice)
o words for the lower ranks: OE ceorl ‘freeman’, OE cnapa ‘boy, young man, servant’
o words for intelligence: cræftig ‘skilful’
o (cf cunning ‘knowledgeable’)