Stan CareyEtymology hidden in plain sight: "naughty" originally meant poor, as in "naught-y" = having nought.
Later it meant morally bad or wicked. This then weakened to the familiar "disobedient" sense in the 17thC.
Helen LH@stancarey maybe this follows the western industrial societies criminalisation of poverty and homelessness. Like the UK vagrancy act 1824.
@Research_FTW I wondered the same – it's such a particular shift in domains, directly from economic to moral. But not being a historical linguist I'm reluctant to assume it.
apm77@stancarey @Research_FTW There are two distinct (though not mutually exclusive) developmental hypotheses here if I'm not mistaken: #1 from having naught in wealth to behaving in a manner deemed to be characteristic of those who have naught in wealth, or #2 from having naught in wealth to having naught in morals.
Richard RatheInteresting!
Nice tie-in to this thread... "vagrants" = "naught-y" = having nought
"The Deserving Poor"
The idea that certain poor people deserve our help (and others do not) is at least five hundred years old. Elizabethan England tried to help certain groups such as orphans and the elderly. "Vagrants" were put into the stocks, fed only bread and water for three days, then released and told to never return. This included honest citizens who'd had the misfortune of losing their homes and livelihoods.
#language #etymology #words #history #poor #DeservingPoor #vagrants
Willow 🏳️⚧️🏴🇵🇸@stancarey ah santas naughty list finally makes sense.
Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸@stancarey @bright_helpings This whole line of etymology is interesting where words for poor or common later become exclusively derogatory. Top of my mind: Vulgar, Villain, Pagan, Heathen
@corbden It really lays the power structures bare
@stancarey I've also got a theory that it shows up in what words we think are "profane" or "vulgar," two concepts we conflate now, but individually have distinct meanings — religious blasphemy vs low-class. Now those taboos are shifting hard to slurs. We can see that power structure flattening, or maybe turning upside down. Both the classist and the religious fascists hate that, warning us to stop saying fuck and Jesus H. Christ while insisting on the right to say the n word. It's a whole societal values change.