vulgar

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈvʌl.ɡɚ/; /ˈvʌl.ɡə/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vulgar,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin vulgāris (“of the common people; common, ordinary”),^{[2][4][5][3][6]} from vulgus “the common people, the crowd”.^{[2][4][5][3][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Common, ordinary, used in common reckoning (c. 1391).^[7][4][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The AHD cites vulgar as an example of pejoration, a word whose meaning has changed for the worse.^[2] In Latin and in early English it meant “belonging to the common people, everyday, ordinary”,^[2][5] and of language “vernacular”, as in Vulgar Latin (1483).^[4][7] What is common was seen as debased, and in the 17th century the word came to mean “coarse, ill-bred, lacking refinement” (1643).^[2][4][5] The sense “crudely indecent” followed.^[2][6] The older sense survives in phrases such as vulgar fraction (1674).^[7][5]

Timeline

• c. 1391 – common, ordinary.^[7][4]
• c. 1430 – in general use, customary.^[7]
• 1483 – of a language, vernacular.^[7][4]
• 1590 – the vulgar, the common people.^[7]
• 1643 – coarse, low, ill-bred.^[4][5]
• 1674 – vulgar fraction.^[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Lacking taste, delicacy or refinement; coarse or ill-bred; also, offensively ostentatious.
2. Crudely indecent or obscene.
3. Of or associated with the common people; plebeian.
4. Spoken by or expressed in the language of the common people; vernacular.
5. Generally current; common or ordinary, as in vulgar fraction.

Word family

• vulgarly
• vulgarness
• vulgarism
• vulgarize
• Vulgar Latin

Related words

• Vulgate
• divulge
• vulgarity
• common

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press