Where the optimists moved

I haven’t done a post about words in years, it feels like. Here’s one today, because I’ve just found out something interesting about the word CUNNING. 

 The words CUNNING and TO KNOW come from the same Old English word, CUNNAN. So, originally, CUNNING meant ‘having knowledge of things’. Then, the word CUNNING evolved to mean ‘having skill’. Then, sometime in the 15th century people start using the word CUNNING with the sense of ‘deceitfulness’. That’s when the meaning of CUNNING gets warped from meaning something good to meaning something bad. Then, sometime in 1600’s, it started to mean ‘having knowledge of the occult and other evil things’. And that’s when you started to have CUNNING MAN or CUNNING WOMAN, which was another name for wizard or witch. And because of this association with witches, the word CUNNING means now ‘sly and crafty’.

And that is an example of how things can go from good to bad for no reason at all. My guess is, some really pessimistic people were being born at the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era.

In about 1800’s in North America, however the word cunning meant ‘charming, pretty, clever’, which is the exact opposite of ‘deceitful’. So, I guess, that’s where all the optimist people moved?

See you,

Misty