Old Words and Old Meanings

For someone who speaks so little, I sure like words. I like to learn about the history of words. Sometimes it adds to their richness. Other times its just amusing. I found a fun webpage that lists words that have changed meaning over time. Here are some common words along with their old meanings.

• Abandon--subdue or subjugate
• Accent--to sing
• Actual--pertaining to an action
• Afford--to go forward
• Amuse--to distract for the purpose of misleading
• Balderdash--a frothy liquid
• Basement--toilet
• Bellboy--the boy who rang a ship's bell. 
• Brave--described a showy or gaudy person
• Coil--a noisy disturbance
• Disclose--to open a hatch
• Emphasis--appearance
• Evil--uppity
• Forehead--An expression easily conveyed by the face
• Girl--a young person of either sex
• Harlot--a vagabond or beggar
• Heartburn--referred to someone full of hatred
• Hilarity--simple cheerfulness or calm joy. 
• Infant--not able to speak
• Keister--a suitcase or satchel
• Last--highest, utmost

Of course, most words probably have old meanings, and if someone used those words intending to communicate the old meaning, we would be utterly baffled. Well, English is baffling anyway. Almost as baffling as Chinese. But that's another story.