Find cases of semantic change based on hyperbole, litotes and irony

How clever it is! (= stupid); Scores of times did I tell you …; clear as mud; not bad (= so so); haven’t seen you for ages; "He was so tall that I was not sure he had a face." (O. Henry); I hate to ask him; not slow (= quick); a killing girl; to split hairs; heaps of time; not small (= great); it’s a nightmare; not half as important; I’ve burnt the meal. That’s just brilliant!; You are so clever, you are. I don’t know how you kept it secret so long; They treated him to a handsome drubbing.

9.* Read the word stories and identify the results of their semantic development. The results are specialization (narrowing) of meaning, generalization (extension, widening) of meaning, elevation (amelioration) of meaning and degradation (pejoration) of meaning.

1) silly

O.E. gesælig "happy", from W.Gmc. *sæligas (cf. O.N. sæll "happy," Goth. sels "good, kindhearted," O.S. salig, M.Du. salich, O.H.G. salig, Ger. selig "blessed, happy, blissful"), from PIE base *sel- "happy" (cf. Gk. hilaros "gay, cheerful," L. solari "to comfort," salvus "whole, safe"). The word’s considerable sense development moved from "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent" (1200), to "harmless," to "pitiable" (c.1280), to "weak" (c.1300), to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish" (1576).

2) camp

O.E. camp "contest," from W.Gmc. *kampo-z, early loan from L. campus "open field", especially "open space for military exercise." Meaning "place where an army lodges temporarily" is 1528, from Fr. camp, from the same L. source. Transferred to non-military senses 1560.

3) dole

O.E. dal "sharing, giving out," shortened from gedal "portion," related to dæl "deal," from P.Gmc. *dailiz. Meaning of "charitable portion" (1362) led to verb "hand out charity" (1465). On the dole (unemployment benefit)is 1920s.

4) demon

1387, from L. dæmon "spirit," from Gk. daimon "lesser god, guiding spirit, tutelary deity," sometimes including souls of the dead. The original mythological sense is sometimes written dæmon for purposes of distinction.

5) pretty

O.E. prættig (W.Saxon), *prettig (Mercian) "cunning, skillful, artful," from W.Gmc. *pratt-. Connection between O.E. and M.E. words is uncertain, but if they are the same, meaning had shifted by c.1400 to "manly, gallant," and later moved via "attractive, skillfully made," to "fine," to "beautiful in a slight way" (1440).

6) cabaret

1655, from Fr., lit. "tavern," probably from M.Du. cambret, from O.Fr. (Picard dialect) camberete, dim. of cambre "chamber". Came to mean "a restaurant/night club" 1912; extension of meaning to "entertainment, floor show" is 1922.

7) holiday

O.E. haligdæg, from halig "holy" + dæg "day;" in 14c. meaning both "religious festival" and "day of recreation," but pronunciation and sense diverged 16c.

8) fowl

O.E. fugel "bird," general Gmc. word, from the same root as O.E. fleogan, modern fly. Originally "bird;" sense of "domestic hen or rooster" (the main modern meaning) is first recorded 1580.

9) mistress

c.1320, "female teacher, governess," from O.Fr. maistresse. Sense of "kept woman of a married man" is from 1430.

10) disease

c.1330, "discomfort," from O.Fr. desaise, from des- "without, away" + aise "ease". Sense of "sickness, illness" first recorded 1393.

11) box

O.E. "a wooden container," also "type of shrub," from L. buxis, from Gk. pyxis "boxwood box," from pyxos "box tree," of uncertain origin.

12) fond

c.1340, originally "foolish, silly," from pt. of fonnen "to fool, be foolish," perhaps from M.E. fonne "fool," of uncertain origin, or related to fun. Meaning evolved by 1590 via "foolishly tender" to "having strong affections for."

13) span

"distance between two objects," O.E. span "distance between the thumb and little finger of an extended hand" – a measure of length, roughly nine inches. Meaning "length of time" first attested 1599.

14) sell

O.E. sellan "to give," from P.Gmc. *saljanan "to hand over, deliver, sell". Meaning "to give up for money" had emerged by c.1000.

15) charge

c.1225, from O.Fr. chargier "load, burden," from L. carricare "to load a wagon, cart," from L. carrus "wagon". Meaning "responsibility, burden" is c.1340, which progressed to "pecuniary burden, cost" (1460), and then to "price demanded for service or goods" (1514). Legal sense of "accusation" is 1477.

16) scent

c.1400, from O.Fr. sentir "to feel, perceive, smell," from L. sentire "to feel, perceive, sense". Originally a hunting term. The -c- appeared 17c., perhaps by influence of ascent, descent, etc., or by influence of science. The noun is first recorded 1375. Almost always applied to agreeable odors.

17) cretin

(informal, offensive) – a very stupid person: Why did you do that, you cretin? Word origin: Fr., from Fr. dialect cretin ‘Christian, human being, type of mentally affected person, who lives in the Alps, shortening from L. cristianus ‘christian’’. Сhrist is the Gr. word for Indo-European root ghrei- ‘anointed one’. Date: 1700 – 1800. Cf. Rus. блаженный, блажной.

10. What semantic processes have taken place in the following words in the course of their development? Find for each word its original meaning as given in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (CD-ROM, Word Origin) or at www.etymonline.com:

spinster, lord, earl, woman, wife, husband, king, queen, meat, hound, starve, sly, stake, revolution, challenge, citizen, clerk, fly, boor, baron, sale, season, marshal?

11. Guess about reasons for the following euphemistic transfers:

liquidation = ‘murder’; military operations = ‘war’; servicing the target = ‘killing the enemy’; refuse collector = ‘dustbin man’; vegetable executive = ‘greengrocer’; mail carrier = ‘postman’; lay off, workforce management, employee transaction, stuff reduction, optimizing, selecting out = ‘discharge / dismissal from office / fire’; senior, mature, middlescence, third age, chronologically gifted = ‘old, elderly’; low-income, the socially deprived, the underprivileged, the disadvantages, economically / financially-challenged, economically exploited, differently advantaged = ‘poor, needy’; hair disadvantaged = ‘bald’; visually challenged = ‘blind’; Native Americans, indigenous person = ‘Red Indians’; to be in a family way / to expect a baby / to be in a delicate condition = ‘pregnant’; headteacher = ‘headmistress’; supervisor = ‘foreman’; correctional facilities = ‘prison’; correctional officers, custodial officers = ‘prison guards’; clients of correctional system, guests, people enjoying temporarily hospitality from the state = ‘prisoners’; animal companions = ‘pets’; botanical companions = ‘house plants’.