One of the things that my listeners enjoy, as do I, is the fact that many words have multiple meanings that evolved over the centuries. Sometimes the meanings progressed in a logical and orderly fashion, like ascending a staircase, but sometimes they took quirky and unpredictable sideway leaps because of figurative extension or historical interference or trendy slang. At any rate, it’s always an instructive journey.
Last week, a listener called in to ask about the word bug and all its permutations. Let’s crawl through its meanings over time. [The dates indicate the first written example given in the online Oxford English Dictionary.]
· An imaginary evil spirit [1425]
· A pompous, conceited person [1536]
· A small insect [1594]
· A contemptible person [1785]
· A person with an obsessive interest [1841]
· A defect in a machine [1875]
· A harmful microorganism [1885]
· An irrational, foolish, or insane person [1885]
· A British boarding school student who is younger or considered somehow inferior [1900]
· A weight allowance given to an apprentice jockey [1906]
· The transmission key in a telegraph or Morse code machine [1910]
· An illness caused by a microorganism [1918]
· A small car resembling a bug [1919]
· A burglar alarm [1920]
· A small makeshift lantern [1924]
· A concealed microphone [1936]
· An error causing a malfunction in a computer program [1952]
Most of the verb forms describe actions connected to the nouns listed above, but they also include to damage, to annoy, to bulge outwards, to run away, to back out of a situation, and to dismiss someone.
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