[CaitSith]

Bad Reputation

Throughout history certain groups and cultures have attained such a bad reputation that their names have trickled down through history to become modern terms for the disorderly, the bizarre, and the sadistic.

Don't follow? You will see what I mean

Thug- The Thugs were an assassins guild and crime organization in India. This guild prefered strangulation as their method of dispatching their "marks." The Thugs or Thugee, boasts the training of the most prolific killer of all time Behram, and the entire organization claimed the lives of some two million victims.
In modern America the term Thug is used to identify ruffians and gang members. This term is often used by gang members themselves, found in rap and hip hop songs and also used as popular slang.

Vandal- The Vandals were one of many roving hordes that gave trouble to the late Roman Empire. It is assumed they came by a more Northern route than the other Germanic tribes that entered Western Europe at the time. It is mostly agreed that the Vandals came from regions in Scandinavia and/or Poland. This conquering horde raided and pillaged all the way to north Africa.
Today Vandal, and vandalism are used in reference for someone who steals and destroys the property of another person. Ransacking, stealing, tagging, and burning are all considered acts of vandalism.

Goth- The Visigoth and Ostrogoth were perhaps the most persistent thorn in the side of the Roman Empire. Like the Vandals, the goths were Scandinavian in origin. The Goths were the most wide spread and successful of the Germanic Tribes though at times they found themselves under Vandal, Roman, and even Hun rule.
Today Goth is a modern subculture drawn to dark art, they tend to dress in black, often medieval style clothing. Modern Goths come in a wide variety of forms, some expressing an almost punk lifestyle while others lean towards a more classic "vampire" image.

Cannibal- This was a termed coined by early explorers of the new world, those we call the Caribs (i.e. Caribbean) who in fact called themselves Kallinago "valiant men." Christopher Columbus, thinking he was in China, misinterpreted this as Kannibal's (subjects of the Khan.) When it became apparent that some of the natives consumed the flesh of their enemies the word Cannibal, as applied to the natives became synonomous with those who consume human flesh.
Today this term is used for anyone that eats the flesh of a human being, be they native or not.

Well hopefully this is just a start, I will come up with some more perhaps. I hope some of you out there might come up with your own input to this topic

[Never_Hit_Nirvana]

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Bad Reputation

Throughout history certain groups and cultures have attained such a bad reputation that their names have trickled down through history to become modern terms for the disorderly, the bizarre, and the sadistic.

Don't follow? You will see what I mean

Thug- The Thugs were an assassins guild and crime organization in India. This guild prefered strangulation as their method of dispatching their "marks." The Thugs or Thugee, boasts the training of the most prolific killer of all time Behram, and the entire organization claimed the lives of some two million victims.
In modern America the term Thug is used to identify ruffians and gang members. This term is often used by gang members themselves, found in rap and hip hop songs and also used as popular slang.

Vandal- The Vandals were one of many roving hordes that gave trouble to the late Roman Empire. It is assumed they came by a more Northern route than the other Germanic tribes that entered Western Europe at the time. It is mostly agreed that the Vandals came from regions in Scandinavia and/or Poland. This conquering horde raided and pillaged all the way to north Africa.
Today Vandal, and vandalism are used in reference for someone who steals and destroys the property of another person. Ransacking, stealing, tagging, and burning are all considered acts of vandalism.

Goth- The Visigoth and Ostrogoth were perhaps the most persistent thorn in the side of the Roman Empire. Like the Vandals, the goths were Scandinavian in origin. The Goths were the most wide spread and successful of the Germanic Tribes though at times they found themselves under Vandal, Roman, and even Hun rule.
Today Goth is a modern subculture drawn to dark art, they tend to dress in black, often medieval style clothing. Modern Goths come in a wide variety of forms, some expressing an almost punk lifestyle while others lean towards a more classic "vampire" image.

Cannibal- This was a termed coined by early explorers of the new world, those we call the Caribs (i.e. Caribbean) who in fact called themselves Kallinago "valiant men." Christopher Columbus, thinking he was in China, misinterpreted this as Kannibal's (subjects of the Khan.) When it became apparent that some of the natives consumed the flesh of their enemies the word Cannibal, as applied to the natives became synonomous with those who consume human flesh.
Today this term is used for anyone that eats the flesh of a human being, be they native or not.

Well hopefully this is just a start, I will come up with some more perhaps. I hope some of you out there might come up with your own input to this topic

Villian (from wikipedia.org): "The etymology of the word is probably Middle English villein from Old French vilain, in turn from Late Latin villanus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul.[1] Consequently, it meant a person of less than knightly status, and so came to mean a person who was not chivalrous. [citation needed]"

Hun (again from Wikipedia.org): "The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, most likely of diverse origin with a Turkic-speaking aristocracy, who appeared in Europe in the 4th century, the most famous being Attila. It has also become a more general term for any number of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads. Most of these peoples are recorded by neighboring peoples to the south, east, and west as having occupied Central Asia roughly from the 4th century to the 6th century (with some surviving in the Caucasus until the early 8th century)." Atilla spoiled it for the rest of them.

[CaitSith]

Barbarian- This was a Greek and Roman term that expressed the natives views on the language and behavior of the incoming Germanic people from the north and east. It was derived from "Barbar" as reference to the way their language sounded to the Latin speaking natives.
Barbarian in modern times is a term used to describe uncivillized or savage individuals

[coldethyl]

Wow, very interesting! Excellent post! I never knew this stuff!

[SupeRgirl]

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Wow, very interesting! Excellent post! I never knew this stuff!

Me either, I wonder where Pleb came from.

[Raptor]

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Me either, I wonder where Pleb came from.

In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian (Latin: plebeius).

Link

[SupeRgirl]

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In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian (Latin: plebeius).

Link

Ah interesting Raptor! Thanks for the link.

[CaitSith]

I'm glad you found it interesting. I read somewhere that Heathen was derived from the Valley of Heath, somewhere in Germania, but when I looked it up it said the word just means simple, country folks

[Vavelva]

Well, i would have to agree that changing the meanings of words is a bad thing. such as gay meaning a.... Homo. But nowdays people are so use to our current things that it would be better if we left them the way they were. Such as the pentagram (Star in a circle), it was a christian symbol untill "Bad People" started using it. But i still think of it as a christian symbol.... sorta.

[CaitSith]

Here is some entomology for you.

Christianity- Followers of Christ, the self proclaimed son/embodiment of God (4BC-30AD)
Mesopatamian pentagrams out date Christ by 3000 years, others such as Sumerian and Greek pentagrams also appeared hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.

Who are these bad people you are referring to?

This post has been edited by Leviathan113: 02 September 2006 - 01:16 AM

[pagan_jedi_girl]

Witch- The word witch is well attested for the duration of the Modern English, Middle English and Old English periods in various forms and its derivation from Old English wicce/wicca is consequently well established. This aside, its origins predating the Anglo-Saxon era constitute the major substance of debate regarding its history. Most probable of Old English cognate relationships is a derivation of the Old English noun forms m. wicca and f. wicce from the OE verb wiccian and from a Proto-Germanic predecessor thereof. Earlier, the Proto Germanic*wikkjaz offers a probable cognate, and later, Low German provides wicker (soothsayer)

Colloquially, the term witch is applied almost exclusively to women, although in earlier Englishthe term was applied to men as well, while in Old English, the masculine and feminine noun forms, wicca and wicce respectively, were phonetically and orthographically distinct. Contemporary Neo-Pagan Wiccans have reclaimed "witch" attempting to remove its gynophobic and misogynist Christian and Patriarchal connotations. Male witches have most often been titled sorcerors, wizards or warlocks despite Wiccan and Neo-Pagan dislike for the latter, appropriating it to the Old English wærloga* meaning "faith breaker"; however, this may reveal a desire for categorical unity or a possible tendency to misandry among self-identified witches rather than referring to any word's actual etymological roots. (Ref Wikipedia)

[Paranoid Android]

Today, the word sinister means underhanded or devious. It's etymology is from the Italian root word sinistra which means "left". Left-handed folk were deemed devious because they wore their swords on the opposite hip to right-handers. ANd in the good ol' days of dueling to the death (rapiers at two paces), when meeting a person you'd extend your right hand and grasp theirs i a firm shake to show you had no ill-intentions in reaching for your sword (this is also where our custom of handshakes originates).

The lefties of course, such a devious bunch we are, wore the sword on the other hip, and could still draw their sword and disembowel the other person. Thus "sinister" entered the English language.

- PA