AMELIORATION​​​​​

Changes depending on the social attitude to the object, connected with social evaluation and emotional tone, are called amelioration.

Examples of amelioration are Old English cwen - 'a woman' > Modern English queen, OE cniht 'a young servant '> ME knight. 

The meaning of some adjectives is associated with aristocratic life or town life. Example: 

civil, chivalrous, urban.​​​​​​

The word gentle ​had already acquired an evolution of approval by the time it was borrowed into English from French in the meaning 'well-born'. Later its meaning included those characteristics that the high-born considered appropriate to their social status: good breeding, gracious behaviour, affability. Hence the noun 'gentleman', a kind of key-word in the history of English ... Читать дальше »