It seems
that the word ‘silly’ has had many meanings over time, but it began by meaning
happy or blessed. However, over time, this has developed, through pejoration
and weakening, towards the meaning we all know today.
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Time
|
Semantic
Change
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Example
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Analysis
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1200-1300
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The
word ‘silly’ originates from the Old English (West Germanic) word ‘seely,’ (sǣl) which meant happy or lucky. Its first
recorded use is thought to have been at around 1200.
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‘Oh
Jesus, blessed is that abbey and silly is that religion’ [1]
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Here,
it seems clear that ‘silly’ is being used to refer to something blessed,
which links closely to the original semantic of happiness.
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1400+
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But
in the late 13th century, the semantic meaning of the word changed
slightly, to mean innocent or helpless.
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‘This
silly animal, that does not do anything amiss’ [2]
‘In
many of the tales the fairies are tiny, silly, helpless creatures.’
|
Within
these quotations, it appears that ‘silly’ is used as a synonym to helpless,
or in need of compassion.
|
|
The
next recorded semantic variation seems to be that ‘silly’ reflected weakness
in relation to physical strength, or meaning ignorant.
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‘Here
we see that a small sillie Bird knoweth how to match with so a great beast’ [3]
‘The
Silly herdman all astonnied stands’ [4]
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Within
the first quotation, it is evident that ‘sillie’ is being used to describe
the weakness of a small bird, in comparison to a ‘great beast.’
Within this example, however, it seems that ‘silly’ is being used to
reflect ignorance.
|
|
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1500
+
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And
then, in around the sixteenth century, ‘silly’ was utilised to mean childish.
From here it then began to describe a foolish action.
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‘In
pride wee speake it, or at least inwardlie thinke it, wee are not as those
seely idiotes are’ [5]
‘He
is a silly senseless boy’ [6]
|
Here
we can see that ‘silly’ is being used to mean foolish, which may relate to
earlier use of the word to mean childish. In the second quotation, ‘silly,’
is followed by the adjective ‘senseless,’ which we can assume is a synonym.
Because of this, we can see that ‘silly’ is being used to mean childish,
particularly as it is used to describe a ‘boy.’
|
|
Recent
uses
|
In
more recent years, it seems to reflect an activity that has caused the person
to not think logically or sensibly.
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‘But
she still worried herself silly every time a visit was coming up.’ Or ‘Scared
Silly’
Other
idioms in which ‘silly’ appears:
‘Silly
Sausage’
‘Silly
as a Goose’
‘The
Silly Season’
|
Within
these quotations, we can see ‘silly’ used with the semantic that we
recognise. The colloquial idioms listed have a semantic meaning that
contrasts hugely to the meaning of ‘silly’ in the 13th century.
From this we can see the process of pejoration and weakening in action. Recently,
it seems that ‘silly’ is used in a more child orientated environment.
|
Quotations
sourced from http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/hollmann/WBH_SemChange_finaldraft.pdf
(Willem B. Hollmann)
It is interesting that as it weakens, it becomese less frequent. Could it be that if a word has religious uses, it appears in more books because of the prevalence of books connected to religion? Could it be that a higher proportion of books in that high-frequency-use time period were religious and that therefore the percentage was inflated by that and it is not so much less common now? I think that, as a weaker synonym for 'stupid', silly might go the way of 'stupid', 'naughty' and now 'bossy' (particularly towards girls), becoming more frowned on because of the damage that those labels do to children's self-image (link to the Sapir Whorf hypothesis).
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