All Change

You can tell a lot about the changing values of a civilisation by the way words evolve in its language.

I was recently thinking about pretty, a word that is far too important to young girls (and many older girls too!). I was amazed to discover that it shares the same roots as pratfall, which is a 'trick fall' done by an actor. The root is praett, the Old English word for a trick.

Back in the 14th century, somebody described as pretty was actually cunning or crafty. A hundred years later, the meaning had shifted to 'skilfully made or attractive'. Eventually pretty meant 'beautiful in a slight way'.

A similar evolution can be seen with silly. It derives from the Old English for happy. Its meaning then shifted through (brace yourself): blessed, pious, innocent, harmless, pitiable, weak, feeble in mind, lacking in reason, until Shakespeare's time when it took on its current sense of foolish.

But my favourite is kind. It comes from the Old English gecynde meaning 'natural, innate' and originally referred to the feelings of relatives for each other (as in 'kin'). Yes, kindness was once considered a basic human instinct, part of our nature.