)
Somewhat akin to words of this type is _knave_, which first meant
boy, then servant, then rogue. Terms for agricultural classes seldom
remain flattering. Besides such epithets as _hayseed_ and
_clodhopper_, contemptuous in their very origin, _villain_ (farm
servant), _churl_ (farm laborer), and _boor_ (peasant) have all
gathered unto themselves opprobrium; _villain_ now involves a
scoundrelly spirit, _churl_ a contumelious manner, _boor_ a
bumptious ill-breeding; not one of these words is any longer confined in
its application to a particular social rank. Terms for womankind are soon
tainted. _Wench_ meant at first nothing worse than girl or daughter,
_quean_ than woman, _hussy_ than housewife; even _woman is_
generally felt to be half-slighting. Terms affirming unacquaintance with
sin, or abstention from it, tend to be quickly reft of what praise they
are fraught with; none of us likes to be saluted as _innocent,
guileless_, or _unsophisticated_, and to be dubbed _silly_ no
longer makes us feel blessed. Besides these and similar classes of words,
there are innumerable individual terms that have sadly lost caste. An
_imp_ was erstwhile a scion; it then became a boy, and then a
mischievous spirit.
Pages:
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123