[Lexicog] stereotypes, taboos, and lexicography

[Peter Kirk]

On 23/02/2005 19:17, David Tuggy wrote:

>... The
>chapter on "villain" and "frank", which were originally social antonyms,
>is a particularly good one. "Christian", "gentleman", and other
>high-status words (including "frank"), were one the same
>historico-semantic treadmill.
>
>
>
Not quite "originally". "Frank" surely started off as an ethnic
designation, referring to the Norman French or Franks who imposed
themselves as an aristocracy on us English in 1066. But presumably the
link with "French" was lost before the era of expressions like "French
leave", allowing this self-designation of the aristocracy to retain a
positive meaning.

--
Peter Kirk
peter at qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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