Monsignor Pope takes a break from his usual meditations on the gospel to give us a light little diversion into the world of language, specifically words that have changed their meaning over time. He deals with the word “nice.” Its original meaning was “foolish.” A nice person was a fool. I especially appreciate Monsignor’s criticism of Our Lord as “a nice person,” you know, harmless, a dolt — if I may use that word — with a perpetual grin. No, the Lion of Juda, was not “nice.” He was, as Simeon foretold, “a sign of contradiction” who upset not just tables, but consciences.
Father Feeney used to taunt his taunters on the Boston Common, one of whom was the ever-faithful, grinning Unitarian, Reverend Greeley (I think that was his name), who “hates the pope and Father Feeney / who let’s nobody know, while his upper teeth show, what his taste in religion is REALLY.” It was, most of the time, a joust of fun, harmless, but not “nice”.
Other words that have changed their meaning over time are “Fantastic,” which originally meant “fanciful”; “Backlog,” literally a big log in the back of the fireplace; “Awful,” inspiring wonder or awe, as in the mother of Samson’s description of the angel, the “man of God” as she called her visitor, whose countenance was “awful”; “Silly,” originally meant “worthy,” even “blessed”; “Fathom” was the width of outstretched arms; “Clue” meant a ball of yarn; “Naughty” meant “nothing,” as in naught; “Spinster,” any woman spinning yarn; “Egregious” meant “distinguished”; and “Meat” meant any solid food, as in Our Lord speaking of fish to His Apostles after He appeared to them on the shore while they were fishing in the boat. There are a ton of other such words.
Enough of that, here is Monsignor Pope: Words can change meaning over time—sometimes dramatically. For example, “manufactured” originally meant “handmade” (manu (hand) +facere (make)). The word “decimate” used to mean “to reduce by a tenth” (decem = ten); now people usually use it mean “to wipe out completely.” The list of examples could go on and on. Yes, words do change meaning over time. One word that has changed meaning dramatically over time is “nice.” Read the full article here.
