There's Something Crooked About 'Change'

The word "change" clings like ChapStick to the lips of presidential candidates these days. But if Hillary and the chaps knew the origin of the word "change," they might not stick with it.

"Change" first appeared as both a verb and noun in Middle English during the 1200s. In 1300, for instance, a piece of writing dubbed "Cursor M." (which would make a really cool screen name) included this sentence: "He chaunges crun or wede." After rummaging around in a Middle English dictionary, I discovered this means something like, "He changes gully and weed," a skill that might have come in handy during the Dust Bowl era.

In 1340, someone named Hampole wrote that "he ofte chaunged to and fra," which pretty much describes the shifting policies of today's presidential candidates. (Could "fra" be a prescient reference to Rudy Giuliani, who has changed his frau twice? Hmm ... ) The word "chaunge" was imported into Middle English from the Old French "changier," which, in turn, had been derived from the Latin "cambiare," meaning "to exchange."

But here's the game-changer: There's strong evidence that "cambiare" came from the Old Irish "camm," which meant -- get ready to wince, politicians -- "crooked."

So, over the course of 1,200 years, a humble Irish word meaning "crooked" went through a few changes itself, migrating from Old Irish to Latin to French and then back again to the British Isles, where it entered Middle English meaning "change." Perhaps the presidential administration of the change-loving candidate who wins should be dubbed "Camm-elot."

The candidates, of course, can choose among any number of synonyms for "change," but the trendiest terms related to mutability seem to be the adjectives "transformational" and "transformative."

Writing in the Atlantic Monthly, for instance, Andrew Sullivan described Barack Obama's candidacy as "potentially transformational." Last Thursday, Washington Post columnist George Will described the interval between the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary as "six transformative days."

And BBC reporter Justin Webb recently wrote, "The buzzword here on the subject of the 2008 presidential election is that it will be 'transformative.' ... I am at a disadvantage though: I am not sure what 'transformative' really means."

Maybe we should just stick with "change."


story by Rob Kyff