government who is in charge of a government department of a branch of one
Many words have been elevated in meaning through the association with the ruling class. The word knight, for example, once meant boy, but through military and feudal associations it came to its later use as a title of rank with a much more prestigious meaning.
Nice once was a popular word. It originally meant foolish, but now its original sense is trivialized and the idea of folly is lost and it’s weakening meaning pleasant, enjoyable and attractive come into existence. In this sense, the word become elevated as well as weakened in meaning(剡璇,2006:67). The changing of word’s meaning always renders people to use more their new meanings, but less their original meanings. With the passage of time, word’s first meaning gradually fades away from our memory, resulting in the loss and weakening of its meaning.
C. Degradation of Meaning
At the present people do not use the original meanings in vocabulary. There are merely the meanings which were degraded and degradation of meaning includes weakening of meaning(陆国强,1983:101). Genteel, for instance, once referred to very polite. It has now the degraded meaning trying to show not naturally polite manners. H.W.Fowler once said, the word genteel now is used in mockery except by the ignorant. Cunning once meant of knowledge. Now it means able to get what you want in a clever way, especially by tricking or deceiving somebody. Sly once was given the meaning skillful. But now it means acting or done in a secret or dishonest way, often intending to trick people. In recent years, the word mistress is perorating(王文斌,2001:258), with its original meaning a female master and with its today’s meaning a woman with whom a man has a sexual relationship. Even some people’s names are trivialized. Micabre , for example, is a person’s name in Dickens’ David Copperfield. He is full of dreaming and is looking forward to fortune. Later, Micauber is used to express obtaining something by fortune without any efforts.
Ⅲ. Reasons for Weakening of Meaning in English and Chinese
A. Their Own Characteristics
Language is the most important part in human society. It is no more than a component of being the part. It also means the merely tool for communication among human beings. Vocabulary forms language. Weakening of meaning is one of the factors in vocabulary change. Thousands of languages are spoken in the world. Hence, to be aware of each language’s own characteristics can be valuable and helpful to know other aspects as well for us. Generally speaking, English has a wider meaning with its flexibility and variety. On the other hand, Chinese has a relatively narrow meaning with stability(刘宓庆,1998:113). Take “eat” in English and “吃 ”in Chinese for example, there are many such words as swallow, devour, pick at whose Chinese meaning is “吃”. Also,“吃闲饭” is “lead an idle life” in English. From this, we know that in English many words are used to describe one thing, while Chinese always uses less word. What’s more, in terms of independence Chinese is superior to English. Take story for example, in Chinese it means “故事”, while in English it has many meanings such as thing, situation, news, message, content and its new meaning is limitless. In English there is one sentence which explains its varieties: Words do not have meanings; people have meanings for words.
B. Historical Reason
In English, many new words attract peopl
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