Has pristine lost its innocence?
Has pristine lost its innocence? Or did it have it in the first place? A reader writes from Australia that this word gets 鈥渂andied about very loosely these days.鈥�
Pristine seems a good example of how a word can make slight shifts in meaning over time 鈥� like the 鈥渟light right鈥� or 鈥渟light left鈥� in your route that you don鈥檛 notice until the voice of Google Maps mentions it 鈥� and end up in rather a different place from where it started.
Pristine comes from the classical Latin pristinus, meaning 鈥渇ormer, previous, ancient, old.鈥� (You know the pri element from words like prior.)
Its earliest meaning was 鈥淥f or relating to the earliest period or state; original, former; primitive, ancient,鈥� according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The聽 first usage example is from a 1534 letter from Anne Boleyn, referring to someone 鈥渞estored to his pristine fredome.鈥�
Four and a half centuries later, on the other side of the ocean, The New York Review of Books used pristine in Boleyn鈥檚 sense in 1992: a reference to 鈥渁 New England Yankee [whose] upbringing ... bred into him the values of American democracy in their most pristine and aboriginal form.鈥�
Early in the 20th century, though, another sense of pristine emerged: 鈥渦nspoilt by human interference, untouched; pure.鈥� The 鈥減urity鈥� in the second definition connects with the idea of 鈥渙riginal state鈥� in the first. The two are distinct, but not unrelated.
Oxford cites an Australian newspaper鈥檚 1991 use of this 鈥渘ew鈥� pristine: 鈥渄umping of tons of toxic chemicals into the region鈥檚 once pristine streams and聽 聽 聽 rivers....鈥�
A third sense arose in the mid-20th century: 鈥淥f a man-made object: spotless, pure in colour; fresh, as good as new; (also) brand new, newly made, unused.鈥� Oxford cites a William Faulkner story from 1940: 鈥渢he Justice raised one hand, in its enormous pristine cuff....鈥�
The usage question here is whether these two new uses are just too Johnny-come-lately for serious writers.聽
The online Oxford English Dictionary quotes the 1982 OED Supplement, which observed that these uses 鈥渁re regarded with disfavour by many educated speakers.鈥� But in that they continue to be 鈥渨ell supported,鈥� the dictionary adds, citing one eminent editor, 鈥渋t is becoming increasingly difficult to find fault鈥� with them.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but not a condemnation, either.
And while we鈥檙e at it, what about 鈥渂andied about鈥�? It鈥檚 one of those idioms that come up in only a very few specialized contexts: 鈥淗is name has been bandied about in connection with the dean of students position that has just opened up.鈥�
Here鈥檚 the scoop from the : Bandy turns out to be an Irish game, a sort of proto-hockey. To bandy something about is thus to knock it around like a hockey puck. The name of our hypothetical prospective dean might be said to be 鈥渋n play.鈥� Not very respectful for a dean, I would suggest. But there you have it.
