AMELIORATION
Amelioration
is a type of semantic change that
happens when a word’s meaning
improves or becomes more positive
over time.
Semantic Change
Change in the meanings of
words, especially with the
passage of time, the study of
which is historical semantics.
Your Logo or Name Here
2
Amelioration is the result of semantic change in the
connotative meaning; the new meaning adds positive
charge
pretty
The adjective “pretty” comes from the Old
English “prættig” (West Saxon), “pretti”
(Kentish), “*prettig” (Mercian) which meant
“cunning, skillful, artful, wily, astute.” In the
change from Old English to Middle English,
“pretty” by 1400 had come to mean “manly,
gallant,” and then it shifted to “attractive,
skillfully made,” and then to “fine,” and then
by the mid-fifteenth century came to mean
“beautiful in a slight way.”
 dude
in 1883 “man who affects an exaggerated fastidiousness in
dress, speech and deportment', a dandy (OE)
‘guy, person, man’ (ME)
 knight
(OE) cniht ‘boy, youth, servant, attendant’ About
1100 'military servant‘
became a rank in the nobility (ME).
 dizzy
(OE) ‘foolish’
primary meaning 'suffering from vertigo.‘ (ME)
 nice
about 1300 means ‘silly, simple; ignorant, senseless, absurd’
in
1500s it shifts to 'requiring or involving great precision or accuracy’ in 1800s
'kind and considerate, friendly’.
Your Logo or Name Here
4
The following table shows other examples of amelioration,
Word
Old Meaning
Specialized Meaning
enthusiasm
“abuse”
“excitement”
queen
“woman”
Wife of a king
governor
pilot
Head of state
minister
servant
Head of a ministry
fond
foolish
affectionate
Your Logo or Name Here
5
Reference
http://homepage.ruhr-unibochum.de/Silke.Hoeche/Aspects%20of%20Language%20Change/types_of_semantic_change.htm
https://www.uni-due.de/SHE/HE_Change_Semantic.htm
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/15/1284995/-Origins-of-English-Amelioration-and-Perjoration
https://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/semantic-change/
https://www.thoughtco.com/amelioration-word-meanings-1689082
Your Logo or Name Here
6