when do words change?? both my daughter's dad and i thought comely was plain, boring...the dictionary on my daughter's mac uses it in the exact opposite manner. i said the word changed, he said words don't change. any thoughts??

when do words change??

Always

he said words don't change.

That's just silly. (Or do I mean nice?)

Come to the point, Faldage! Comely still means "attractive" to me. Not quite beautiful,
but almost.

You didn't by any chance confuse "comely" with "homely"? Now that I think of it there's no place
like home, why should 'homely' be a put-down?

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

comely


SYLLABICATION:
come·ly
PRONUNCIATION:
kml
ADJECTIVE:
Inflected forms: come·li·er, come·li·est
1. Pleasing and wholesome in appearance; attractive. See synonyms at
beautiful. 2. Suitable; seemly: comely behavior.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English comli, alteration (probably influenced by bicomli, seemly) of
cumli, from Old English cmlic, lovely, delicate, from cme, beautiful.
OTHER FORMS:
comeli·ness —NOUN

this is an interesting pair. comely has always had the sense of "fair, pretty, ‘nice-looking’, pleasing: in modern use implying a lower or homelier style of personal beauty, which pleases but does not excite admiration"; and homely was originally characteristic of the home, esp. a humble home, and when applied to a person, "of commonplace appearance or features; not beautiful, ‘plain’, uncomely. [E.A.]

[quotes from OED2]


so, getting out the ol' continuum chart,

ugly______________homely___comely_____________beautiful