# Archaic Words That Made Comebacks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363 "2009-01-28T06:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/1 "2009-01-28T06:49:07Z")
Are there any words that were considered archaic, fell out of use then made a comeback into general use? I mean let’s say the word “thou” or “thee” which is now archaic (for most things) were to come back and take over it’s previous role. I also mean having the same meaning. Not a world that fell out of favour then came back under a new meaning ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/2 "2009-01-28T08:55:41Z")
I think it has happened, but understand that sometimes a word survives in some corner of the population, or just isn’t in print much for a while, so it’s not always clear that it completely left, or really left at all. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/3 "2009-01-28T09:19:02Z")
Well, “literally” meant “figuratively” a long time ago. That usage was considered archaic until a few years ago, at which point it began to make a comeback. Now people talk of “literally jumping through the roof” and it’s perfectly correct, although the resurgence of this archaic usage is recent enough to throw some people off. Understand, though, that in the case of “thou” and “thee” and things of that ilk, it’s not just a _word_, it’s an entire morphological system. “Thou”/“thee” was just your average second-person singular pronoun, and then it took on an air of familiarity while “you” developed as a more formal system for expressing the same thing. Even though it theoretically disappeared in the 17th century, it’s still in use in some way-northern English and Scottish dialects. And I’d argue that it has made a resurgence in more mainstream English as, paradoxically, an ultra-formal alternative to “you”. Just because it’s often used ironically doesn’t mean that it isn’t part of the language. And I would argue that the development of constructions like “you guys” and “y’all” is sort of like “thou” and “thee” making a comeback, syntactically speaking. I just wish the English-speaking world could decide on “y’all” as the second-person plural and be done with it, but of course that’ll never happen! Hostile Dialect, Hostile Dialect, Narcissist ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/4 "2009-01-28T11:24:12Z")
The verb “to wed” is the common example. It supposedly made a comeback with the rise of telegraphs and newspaper headlines which preferred it to “to marry” as it is shorter. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/5 "2009-01-28T11:56:28Z")
And there are the words which pick up rude connotations for a while & fall out of polite use, then come back after the rude sense goes out of fashion. Like “occupy.” ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/6 "2009-01-28T12:16:04Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Even though it theoretically disappeared in the 17th century, it’s still in use in some way-northern English and Scottish dialects. [/quote] “Thou” and “thee” are still very much in use in the dialects in Wigan, northern England, and surrounding towns (not in an ironic “look-at-me-I’m-talking-like-I’m-from-the-sixteenth-century-aren’t-I-special” kind of way, neither), for instance. The dialect there is pretty archaic, with plenty of words that have fallen out of usage in standard English centuries ago still surviving in widespread use (e.g. klempt, a variant of clem, to starve, from the Old English berclemmen, related to the German word for pinch (imagine stomach cramps), and the Yiddish word for being overwhelmed with emotion.) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/7 "2009-01-28T12:21:03Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > “Thou” and “thee” are still very much in use in the dialects in Wigan, northern England, and surrounding towns (not in an ironic “look-at-me-I’m-talking-like-I’m-from-the-sixteenth-century-aren’t-I-special” kind of way, neither), for instance. Indeed, as heard in the song _I Predict A Riot_ by Kaiser Chiefs, who are from Leeds. (“Watching the people get lairy / It’s not very pretty I tell thee”). I think there are quite a few words that have come back from the dead (or at least, emerged from specialised uses) because of computers and the internet. “Avatar” is one that immediately springs to mind. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/8 "2009-01-28T12:58:08Z")
No cite, but I recall reading 10-15 years ago in a legit source that in the US Wild West era a bunch of Olde English or some such words were revived. “Gulch” being one memorable one, but there were several others. The current meaning is more or less the same as the ancient one, with the added connotation, at least in the US, of being Wild West-ish. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/9 "2009-01-28T13:24:17Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > Well, “literally” meant “figuratively” a long time ago. That usage was considered archaic until a few years ago, at which point it began to make a comeback. Now people talk of “literally jumping through the roof” and it’s perfectly correct, although the resurgence of this archaic usage is recent enough to throw some people off. Cite? Here, from the online OED, are all the recorded senses of the word\* literally\*. > [@](#): > > literally, adv. > > 1. nonce-uses. a. By the letters (of a name). b. In letters or literature. Obs. > > 1584 R. SCOT Discov. Witchcr. XVI. iii. (1886) 399 One T. of Canterburie, whose name I will not litterallie discover. 1593 R. HARVEY Philad. 7 And yet I tell you me-thinkes you are very bookishly and literally wise. > > 1. a. With reference to a report, translation, etc.: In the very words, word for word. > > 1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep. III. xvi. 145 Which are literally thus translated. > > ``` > b. transf. With exact fidelity of representation. > > ``` > > 1816 BYRON (title) Churchill’s Grave, a fact literally rendered. > > 1. a. In the literal sense. > > 1533 FRITH Answ. More’s Let. C3b, Allthough it were literalye fulfillyd in the childern of Israell..yet was yt allso ment & verified in Christ hym sellfe. > > ``` > b. Used to indicate that the following word or phrase must be taken in its literal sense. > > ``` > > Now often improperly used to indicate that some conventional metaphorical or hyperbolical phrase is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense. (So, e.g., in quot. 1863.) > > 1687 DRYDEN Hind & P. III. 107 My daily bread is litt’rally implor’d. 1863 F. A. KEMBLE Resid. in Georgia 105 For the last four years..I literally coined money. As you can see, none of the above support your assertion. ---
**Author:** ![nofloyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nofloyd/32/2870_2.png) [@nofloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nofloyd)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/10 "2009-01-28T13:31:38Z")
I’ve read in a history of English book (by Mario Pei?) that ‘handbook’ was almost dead in the middle ages?, when Latin and French terms replaced many Old English ones, it was replaced by ‘manual’ and ‘enchiridion’, now handbook is back in general use and enchiridion is obscure. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/11 "2009-01-28T14:38:16Z")
How about “car”? Once an obsolescent poetic word for chariot, now standard. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/12 "2009-01-28T14:43:39Z")
I understand from the occasional novel that “vex” is used by trashy British teenagers and they get corrected for it, which is hilarious to me and I hope it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/13 "2009-01-28T14:47:18Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I understand from the occasional novel that “vex” is used by trashy British teenagers and they get corrected for it, which is hilarious to me and I hope it’s true. Yes teenagers will use vex (I’ve heard it) as in “I was well vexed” or “he vexes me”. In terms of them being corrected, I don’t know what you’re reffering to there because as far as I can tell such usages are already correct. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/14 "2009-01-28T14:52:01Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > And there are the words which pick up rude connotations for a while & fall out of polite use, then come back after the rude sense goes out of fashion. > > Like “occupy.” Occupy was rude? I’m trying to picture how. I know the usual suspects, but it’s hard to picture. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/15 "2009-01-28T14:55:36Z")
How about “horrific”? (Why people prefer it to “horrifying”, I have no idea.) Another possibility: “emergent” Whenever I hear this word, I think of something emerging from something else, but context tells me it relates to emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/16 "2009-01-28T15:02:08Z")
Most obvious: Gender It meant “sex” up until about 1900, when the term faded away and was only used to mean grammatical gender. In the 1960s, it came back as a term for human sex, though sometimes with a slightly different meaning than it originally had. But forms often use “gender” these days as a substitute for “sex.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/17 "2009-01-28T15:02:55Z")
One word that comes to mind is “mock.” This word would have sounded terribly old-fashioned and archaic to me when I was growing up. (Instead, we used the term “make fun of.”) Now, I hear it all the time. For example, my sister used to whine to my mother: “He’s making fun of me!” Now, I hear my son say: “She’s mocking me!” I always want to snicker when I hear that. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/18 "2009-01-28T15:04:18Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Yes teenagers will use vex (I’ve heard it) as in “I was well vexed” or “he vexes me”. In terms of them being corrected, I don’t know what you’re reffering to there because as far as I can tell such usages are already correct. Being told that it’s a trashy word, or not proper - in other words, it’s correct usage but “nice” people don’t talk like that. Like I said, though, this is from books. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/19 "2009-01-28T15:38:08Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I understand from the occasional novel that “vex” is used by trashy British teenagers and they get corrected for it, which is hilarious to me and I hope it’s true. Never heard anybody corrected for using vex, although it isn’t common nowadays, where I’m from (it sounds like something my grandma would have said). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363/20 "2009-01-28T16:40:59Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Occupy was rude? I’m trying to picture how. I know the usual suspects, but it’s hard to picture. John was occupying Mary. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaic-words-that-made-comebacks/483363.md?page=2)