XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.language.latin   
   From: ed@somewhere.in.the.uk   
      
   Belladonna   
   It acquired its alter name in the middle ages, when women used it   
   because of how it dilates the pupils, making them more sexy.   
   Beautiful Lady.   
      
   Pagan.   
   In Latin "paganus" meant "villager" or "peasant". That's what Cicero   
   would have understood. But early Christians used it as a depreciatory   
   term for those who stuck to polytheistic or pre-Christian beliefs; the   
   gods of Old Rome.   
      
   Is there a technical term for this way that words mutate in meaning?   
   Do people know other examples?   
      
   Ed   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)