Consider the evolution of a turn of phrase. (What is a date?)

[Jemini]

I am someone who has gone through the trouble of creating my own custom language for the series I am writing, and this effort has a way of really making you consider the way we use our own language.

I have recently been considering the concept of a turn of phrase and how it develops, and I think I have happened upon an idea that can be more widely used by anyone who is creating a more historical setting for their world. That is, how does the use of a term develop and evolve over time?

I think one of the most demonstrative examples of this concept might be the term "Date." What does the word "date" acutally mean? It has 2 very distinct meanings in the English language, and one is derived from the other. The fact that both uses of the term still exist today is what makes this term so good for demonstrating this point.

The original (and still existing) meaning of the word "date" is to identify the calendar date. Day, month, year. (Or, month, day, year if you live in the US or other weird backwards countries like that.) Sometimes, the term "date" can also be stretched to include the time of day as well.

This stretching of the term to include time of day is what creates another term still in use today. "Dinner date." Dinner date is an established day and time that you will be venturing out with someone to have dinner with them. Simple as that. Then, dinner dates become a standard for meetings between couples wanting to become closer to one another. So, these couples might go on frequent "dinner dates" or set dates for things other than dinner. Since they are going out for things other than dinner, the "dinner" part gets dropped and they just say they are going on "dates" with one another.

Now, the term "date" has come to refer to something completely different from it's original meaning to refer to a calendar date. True, it still technically has the original meaning, but it has picked up an additional meaning as well.

Eventually, as this new meaning becomes entrenched, people want to be more flexible with the use of this new term. Thus, it is established that you can add the "ing" suffix to the term "date" in order to refer to the process or activity of meeting on frequent dates to become romantically closer to one another.

There are several terms or phrases in the English language, as well as any other language that evolve over time in much the same way. Unlike the term "date" though, in several cases these evolved terms manage to erase their original uses of the term and loose the original meanings to time. "Date" just worked so well as a demonstration because it is quite likely the only phrase of this sort that has not just the starting and ending terms, but even every single in-between step still alive within the language. This is not the case in most of these evolved terms.

So, if you are trying to set a historical period for your story, it might be a good idea to look for these evolved terms in the language and roll back the clock on them a bit. For instance, back to the term we used for our example, the term "date" might be something you want to roll back to "courtship" or "romantic randevu" due to the fact that "date" is actually a pretty loose word to refer to the same thing and also a fairly modern invention and use of the language.

 

[Shoemilk]

Don't forget you can also eat it.

You make a good point, but I'd argue you'd only want to do it to a particular extent otherwise you risk alienating the modern reader. There are very few who are coming here to read lesser Shakespearian-styled writings and even fewer who are looking to read Chaucer.

A word here or there to give it the "feel" of being antiquated would work better than shooting for purity of word choice for the era.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Well... it depends. If you're writing about a culture that speaks a language that is not english, 'date' would be the proper translation.
In castillian spanish, we have 'cita' which can be used as 'date' 'appointment' 'quotation', and a few more. The word 'cita' comes from a person requiring the precense of another, much like when you go to a doctor's appointment.
Surprisingly enough (i know) there are more languages than English, around 7000 of them! WOW~!
Knowing this, liberties can be taken when it comes to the use of languages, for example you mention a "romantic randevu" which comes from the French "rendez-vous" which literally means 'appointment'. You can't have this world if you're writing about the early 1200's American continent for example.
Language is tricky, but allows a wide leeway as a tool to tell a story. It's easier to add old words rather than getting rid of new ones. Or replace them as you say.
For example, in japanese isekai, the sociolinguistic tools like honorifics make absolutely no fucking sense outside of earth. They use it either way. Does that matter? I think not, since it's one of the more popular genres of fantasy anime.
Languages are within the suspension of disbelief, and working on a piece of fiction that goes too ham on that breaks that immersion. Because I'm not a 16th century coal miner reading the novel. I'm a 21st century femboy reading futa smut.
Write for the people today.

 

[Jemini]

Language is tricky, but allows a wide leeway as a tool to tell a story. It's easier to add old words rather than getting rid of new ones. Or replace them as you say.
For example, in japanese isekai, the sociolinguistic tools like honorifics make absolutely no fucking sense outside of earth. They use it either way. Does that matter? I think not, since it's one of the more popular genres of fantasy anime.

For the author maybe, I don't really think it would affect the reading experience all that negatively to get rid of new ones unless the readers have trouble recognizing the old word you put there to replace it.

The Japanese honorifics you referred to are a little bit of a special case and it is rather unique to Japan, so I do agree those would be extremely difficult to excise from the language. In most cases though, all it really takes is the writer doing a little bit of thinking and consideration about where the term actually came from, and a little more thinking to find an easily recognizable more antiquated substitute.

Writing for the people of today is a valid point, but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to put in no actual effort.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

For the author maybe, I don't really think it would affect the reading experience all that negatively to get rid of new ones unless the readers have trouble recognizing the old word you put there to replace it.

The Japanese honorifics you referred to are a little bit of a special case and it is rather unique to Japan, so I do agree those would be extremely difficult to excise from the language. In most cases though, all it really takes is the writer doing a little bit of thinking and consideration about where the term actually came from, and a little more thinking to find an easily recognizable more antiquated substitute.

Writing for the people of today is a valid point, but you shouldn't use that as an excuse to put in no actual effort.

Absolutely agree. You can't let that effort make it a chore to read, however. It's very interesting to play with languages, and we have to remember the readers don't know the same things as the authors when writing, unless you're catering to the niche, which is absolutely fine.
A while ago, someone posted a thread about 'good bye' with politeism and that would apply here as well. In another world things don't develop the same way, and we can have Elves speaking posh if enough justification is given.
As for earth-centered historical fiction, then yes. A lot of research must go in for it to be faithful, and I encourage it.
An otome setting with magic? It's not earth, so languages can, and should, have evolved differently.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Don't forget you can also eat it.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese

Bacon-Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese - a simple 3-ingredient appetizer that will blow you away! Enjoy with a crowd of friends!

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