When should you accept 鈥榝ulsome鈥� praise?
The more research I did聽into the history of fulsome, the more confused I became. This slippery word has distinct, sometimes contradictory meanings.
The more research I did聽into the history of fulsome, the more confused I became. This slippery word has distinct, sometimes contradictory meanings.
Should you bask in 鈥渇ulsome praise鈥� or shun it? When a reader asked me to look into the history of fulsome, the more research I did, the more confused I became. This word has so many distinct, sometimes contradictory senses that we might ask not 鈥淲hat does it mean?鈥� but rather 鈥淒oes it mean anything at all?鈥�
Fulsome was used in several different ways from the get-go, and has only acquired more flexibility since. Though it can hold its head high among the fanciest of SAT words, it had humble beginnings, deriving from one of the most common words in English, full, plus the suffix -some, which also gave us awesome, lonesome, and handsome. This suffix signifies 鈥渃haracterized by a (specified) thing, quality, state, or action,鈥� according to Merriam-Webster, and full means, well, 鈥渇ull.鈥� Fulsome, then, etymologically speaking, is 鈥渃haracterized by fullness, or being full.鈥�
When it first appeared in the mid-13th century, fulsome usually had a positive connotation. Its primary sense was 鈥減lentiful ... copious,鈥� according to the Oxford English Dictionary. 鈥淔ulsome fields鈥� contained an abundance of wheat; a 鈥渇ulsome well鈥� had lots of water. It could also indicate that a person was nicely 鈥渇ull and plump鈥� 鈥� 鈥渇ulsome, fair [beautiful], and fresh鈥� was the opposite of 鈥渓ean, pale 鈥� and withered.鈥�
Yet even back then it could have negative connotations as well. It sometimes referred to things that were morally reprehensible 鈥� full of wickedness 鈥� as when a 15th-century manuscript described King Arthur battling 鈥渢he fulsomest freak that was ever formed,鈥� a giant who murders children. Shakespeare used it to mean 鈥渓ewd.鈥� For other writers it stood in for 鈥渢edious,鈥� or 鈥渄ifficult to digest鈥� (鈥渇ulsome meat鈥�), or 鈥渟ickly-sweet鈥� (鈥渇ulsome honey鈥�), or 鈥渄irty鈥� (鈥渇ulsome clay鈥�), or 鈥渇oul-smelling鈥� (鈥渇ulsome breath鈥�).
By the 16th century, negative uses predominated and the word was often written foulsome for emphasis. Around this time, too, it developed the meaning beloved by language purists today: 鈥渆xcessively complimentary or flattering.鈥� From 1600 to 1900, if you heard 鈥渇ulsome praise鈥� or a 鈥渇ulsome apology,鈥� it was hyperbolic and probably insincere.
Language is always changing, though, and fulsome is going back to its roots. Now it is once again used positively, and 鈥渇ulsome praise鈥� is usually generous and sincere. Without context, though, it is impossible to know for sure. It is even harder to interpret fulsome when it is used in non-praise-related situations.聽
If I had my way, we would abandon all its other uses and reserve fulsome for 鈥渆xcessively complimentary.鈥� While we can say 鈥渄irty鈥� or 鈥済enerous鈥� many different ways, no other word so perfectly captures the tone and content of much contemporary discourse.