I seem to recall having seen an eel that looked like a flute, but no, a friend told me that the flute is named after it’s resemblance to this species of eel. Anyone know if this was for real, or if it was a dream? Falling that, anyone have any words that are used contrary to their meanings, no matter how archaic?
Any decent dictionary will give you the etymology for flute, and there is always the Etymology Online Dictionary:
No eels to be found anywhere…
As for your other question, words mean what we use them to mean. Period. Etymology, logic, and history be damned. Dictionaries follow, they do not lead.
Many words have reversed their meanings over time or changed them in ways that can be quite surprising. For example, the word “pretty” used to mean “cunning, skillful, artful.” That doesn’t make cunning the “true” meaning of pretty. When I say someone or something is pretty, I’m not “really” calling them or it cunning. Etymology is interesting, but it isn’t the measure of what a word means.
Fair enough.
Question revised: Does anyone know of any archaic word which originally meant something outer than it means today?
I keep running into people who think that “jibing” means to go along with something, rather than contrary to it (“That doesn’t jibe with what I know”, meaning “That disagrees with what I know”). In sailing terms, jibing is the less-harmonious way to turn the boat across the wind, and is therefore considered somewhat contrary and mildly risky.
I always thought ‘flute’ was derived from an acronym: For Lyrical Uluation and Terpsichorean Entertainment. You know, like how ‘tip’ is ‘to insure promptness’ and the thing with ‘for unlawful carnal knowledge’, even though acronyms were very uncommon until the 20th century. =)
Many old words have changed their meaning; one is ‘starve’, which originally meant ‘to die (by any means)’ and now means ‘to be severely lacking in food or to die from lack of food’. Another is ‘silly’: “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).” (from here)
There are several processes by which a word can change its meaning; it can shift from a positive or neutral meaning to a negative one (pejoration, as with ‘negro’ or arguably ‘gay’). Or it can do the opposite, taking on a positive meaning (amelioration), or it can broaden or narrow in sense (as ‘starve’).
Wow. I rarely run into anyone who knows that “jibe” is a word (except for those familiar with sailing terms) at all. They mostly seem to think that the word to use in that context is “jive,” i.e. “that doesn’t jive with what I know.”
“nice” has gone though a number of meanings, some of which are nearly the opposite of what we use “nice” to mean now. More or less in order:
Foolish, Stupid, wanton, trivial, coy, fastitiously correct. And more.
I seem to have recalled hearing that the Greek Gods will give you a free prize if you can corectly name all the meanings of “comedy” The only one I can remeber is a story which ends on a pleasent note.
It does mean that. The one usage is apparently unrelated to the other, despite the common spelling. According to this, the etymology for the “to agree with” definition is unknown.
There are dozens - just a few I remember from my History of the English Language class from my underground days.
“Girl” used to mean anyone who hadn’t hit puberty yet, so a girl could be male.
“Deer” used to mean any animal.
“To Starve” meant to die, with no reference to the method or manner - so a person coud die from overeating.
“Meat” was any food, including vegitables.
Is that what you’re looking for?
Exactly!
Those are all examples of what is called specialization: when a word’s meaning becomes more specific over time. The overall meaning hasn’t changed so much as it’s definition has simply become more restricted. For example, a deer is now a specific type of animal, not just an animal in general.
“Awful” which originally meant “causing awe.” So if you saw a beautiful building, you might call it “awful” and mean “amazing.”
“Turtle” was originally a bird. After the Norman invasion, they French used “tortue” to indicate what the Saxons called a tortoise. By folk etymology*, “tortue” became “turtle.” The bird was renamed “turtledove” to avoid mixups.
For a double switch, “disinterested” originally mean “uninterested.” It changed to mean “impartial,” and then back to “uninterested.”
“Hopefully” once meant “in a hopeful manner,” but has pretty much changed to mean “It is hoped that,” despite the frowns of language purists.
A “car” was originally any wheeled vehicle; now it only means “automobile” or “railroad car.”
“Dinner” was the midday meal, with “supper,” the evening meal. Now, “dinner” is the evening meal, with “lunch” taking its place at midday. Not entirely a change – Dinner was always the biggest meal of the day no matter when it was served – but in my youth people were still objecting to it.
“Bird” first referred to the young, and later to all flying creatures (the older word is “fowl”). What’s interesting is that no one is sure where the term came from. It was originally “brid,” but there is no link between it an the seemingly obvious “brood.”
“Gay” meant “cheerful.” The meaning still exists, but it is dying out quickly.
Similarly, no one ever thinks of a bundle of sticks when they hear “faggot.”
*The process by which unfamilar words adopted from a non-English language change to match an already existing English term.
Hee hee! 
In the thread: I am so happy - there are faggots back in my local shop! Loveley lovely faggots!, the term is being used for pork meatballs, cigarettes, a slang term for young school boys, and in my case and that of The Chao Goes Mu, bundled sticks.
Interesting…I recall in my elementary school (early '80s) that there was one kid who made a point of calling the midday meal in the cafeteria “dinner”. (Or at least he did until the rest of us made enough fun him for calling it that and got him to stop (so that’s how language changes over time 
)). To the rest of us, dinner and supper were interchangable words for the meal we had at home in the evening. I guess his family was one of the hold-outs in the old usage of the term.
“Corn” used to refer to any kind of grain, so wheat and barley were both corn. Now, it’s just… umm… corn…
And Queen Anne supposedly described St. Paul’s Cathedral as “awful, artificial and amusing.”
You could throw “terrible” in there too.
It reminds of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” – whenever someone in an old sci-fi or horror movie would exclaim with disbelief “But … but that’s fantastic!” … Joel or one of the 'bots would quip … “So you like it too?”
“Maize.”
Many old-timers in the South still refer to the midday meal as “dinner.”
I know that, but we call it corn.