E.B. White wrote "The language is perpetually in flux: it is a living stream, shifting changing, receiving new strength from a thousand ributaries, losing old forms in the backwaters of time. It is observed that words change or develop under the influence of various factors. There seems to be a logical route from meaning X to meaning Y and sociolinguists have forwarded theories attempting to explain it. When one gives a sufficient amount of thought it is noticed that many meaning changes which, at first, seem baffling can be sourced quite easily and understood very logically. The passage of time, socio-cultural conventions, and technological developments provides plenty of opportunity for the semantic change to take place, both consciously and unconsciously. The above module attempted to explain this phenomenon of changes in meanings of words along with an overview of its types and causes and its consequent outcomes.
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS – CHANGES IN MEANING OF WORDS