XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.language.latin   
   From: Silvano@noncisonopernessuno.it   
      
   Ed Cryer hat am 05.10.2024 um 19:40 geschrieben:   
   > 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?   
      
   I don't know it, but I'm sure there is one.   
      
      
   > Do people know other examples?   
      
   Sorry, at the moment I can remember only some examples in Italian and   
   German.   
   I stopped reading sci.lang after a very short time because there was   
   nothing but crosspostings to AUE.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)