Question: When did "awesome" become a good thing and "awful" a bad thing, when both mean "filled with awe"?Dear A: We'll look first at the history of "awful." Though we often think of this word as having the basic sense, "full of awe," its original meaning was actually "inspiring awe."
But what exactly is awe? "Awe" denotes a mix of emotions, as indicated by its very first meaning in English: "an emotion variously combining dread, veneration and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime." Historically, sometimes the "dread" aspect of "awe" has been more emphasized, sometimes the "wonder."
"Awful," a much older word than "awesome" (it goes back to before 1000), thus first meant both "causing dread" and "commanding reverential respect."
"Awful" did finally come to be used to mean "full of awe" in the 16th century and 17th centuries, although this sense never seems to have been common, and it is now obsolete.
"Awesome" first appeared in the 16th century, and its earliest sense was in fact "full of awe" or "expressive of awe," as in "an awesome tribute." This sense has continued in occasional use, but "awesome" has also long been used to mean "inspiring awe," as in "an awesome task."
By the end of the 18th century, "awful" had managed to acquire its now familiar weakened sense -- "very bad or objectionable," as in "the weather is awful."
"The word 'awful' should, however, be used with caution," admonished the English writer Hester Lynch Piozzi in 1794, "and a due sense of its importance; I have heard even well-bred ladies now and then attribute that term too lightly in their common conversation, connecting it with substances beneath its dignity."
The weakened sense did not really come to predominate until about a hundred years later, in the first quarter of the 20th century, at which time it was roundly criticized by numerous commentators. A still more recent development is the use of "awful" to mean "large" or "considerable," as in "an awful lot of money."
"Awesome" has never carried quite the lofty weight that "awful" once had; it's always been a sort of stepsibling of "awful." Maybe that's why when it took on its own weakened sense, it tended toward the "good" rather than the "bad."
Question: My son loves to pretend he's a pirate, and we use all the cliched pirate phrases. He asked me what a "piece of eight" was, and I realized I didn't really know, except that it was some kind of money. Can you explain further?
Answer: The phrase "pieces of eight" often carries connotations of mystery and romance to those who read tales of Spanish explorers and adventurers. Actually, though, there is nothing mysterious about it. A piece of eight is simply the Spanish dollar, a coin which that once had the value of eight reals and was therefore stamped with a large figure 8.
In 1785, the piece of eight or peso was introduced into the American economy by Thomas Jefferson, and it was quickly adopted as a unit of American currency by an act of the Continental Congress. Until as late as the Civil War, the Spanish dollar remained in general circulation in the United States. Its value was, after all, almost the same as that of the United States U.S. dollar. In fact, it may interest you to know that our fictitious monetary unit, the "bit," valued artificially at twelve and a half cents, is related to the piece of eight. One bit is the real, or one eighth of a dollar; thus two bits is twenty-five cents; four bits is fifty cents, and so forth. It is just one more example of a familiar English term with a foreign pedigree.
This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster's "Collegiate Dictionary," Tenth Edition. Send questions to: Merriam-Webster's Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102. (C) 1999 Merriam-Webster Inc. Dist. by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service