Changes of meaning

“Some people believe that words have “real meanings”, and object to evidence of change in current usage. Favourite words for teachers today are, for instance, aggravate and disinterested, which have taken on the meanings of annoy and uninterested in addition to those of make worse and impartial. It is argued that the new meanings are wrong, and an appeal is made to the derivation or etymology of a word - that is, what its original meaning was in the language it came from. Here is an example from the “Letters to the Editor” columns of a newspaper. The first is arguing that Latin should be taught in schools; the second is one of the replies that were printed later:

1st letter

It is demonstrably more easy to explain the function of a word when you know what it means. The very word “education” provides me with a wonderful example. In Latin e from ex meaning “out” and ducare “to lead” - literally, therefore to lead out (to lead out of ignorance into the light of knowledge).

2nd letter

Knowing the derivation of the word education is of as much help to us in deciding how children should be educated as knowing the derivation of, say, “hysteria” would be in choosing a treatment for that condition. May I suggest that your etymologically minded correspondents look up “treacle” in a good dictionary? They will then know what to do if ever bitten by a snake.

From Old English to Standard English, A Course Book in Language Variation across Time, Dennis Freeborn.