–noun
1. Depreciation; a lessening in worth, quality, etc.
2. Historical Linguistics. Semantic change in a word to a lower, less approved, or less respectable meaning.
Around the year 1200, the word “silly” was spelled “sely” and it meant ‘happy, blissful, blessed, or fortunate’. As time went on, the word slowly progressed. The blessed are also innocent. Innocence can be perceived as being unaware of one’s social surroundings, sometimes choosing the moral path rather than the one the world deems choiceworthy, and suddenly you become foolish. This is what the word means today.
“Gaudy” is derived from the Latin word gaudium, or joy.
“Hierarchy” was originally referring to a host of angels and now is a term used to explain the roles in the corporate world, not focusing on all the important pieces, but only the top. The elite. The ones we envy.
“Dawning ‘gay’ apparel” meant being festive for a joyous occasion, but now it calls for snickers and smirks from the children who hear it.
Hope was something Biblical. Something we had in Christ, not in a president or a country. Hope is the word that prompted this blog today. I was reading some Patrick Henry speeches and I just had to chuckle at the irony of the words he spoke in 1775:
"Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it." (Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775)
Isn't it crazy how relative this is to the United States today? After dwelling on that bizarre fact for some time, I realized I was sad too. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is about "hope" and we've let, or maybe it is just me, I've let the word grow tainted!
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:1-5)The sheer magnitude of this verse should make us tremble in this grace in which we stand. The power that is in that glory of God is something that our earthly minds cannot even fathom and we are being told to put our hope in it! What an awesome truth.
Our world today seems to have lost the true meaning of the word "hope." Even Patrick Henry, one of my favorites in American history, cheapened it by calling it an indulgence. I realize my interpretation of this word is hardly something to stand by. I am no etymologist, and I certainly don't claim that it has gone through the pejoration of the words mentioned above. Just some parallels that I saw and felt the need to share, if only for the opportunity to remind people of where our true hope must lie.
