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ts of semantic changes are diverse and numerous.

ttic changes тау take place in the denotational component of word meaning. They

rious and of а complex nature but we shall mention the most wide-spread опек and about restriction/nаr оМщ of meaning, or specialization, its extensionlwЫетпд, eralization, as well as about а semantic shift including the зlиф to the opposi te.

iction, or narrowing of meaning occurs when а word happens to denote а more 'ted пптЬег of referents. For example, the noun mare in modern English denotes 'а

female horse' but in Old English it was applied both to female and male horses. It mea<t just 'а horse' and had а slightly different form [mearh].

Restriction, or narrowing of word meaning parallels its specialization, when the new, meaning of the word is less general, more detailed in character, more specialized. Hence many scholars use these three terms зупопуписа11у.

It is usually native words that become more restricted and specialized. Their broad general sense is very often lost as it is replaced by loan words and only more гез1пе1

ones still remain (cf.: semantic development of the words deor from 'animal' to 'dear' /иуо1 from 'bird' to 'fowl', mete from 'food' to 'meet', and sellan rom 'give' to 'sell'), The native word may pass йоту general into special use. The word seduce, for example изей nowadays mostly as а term, meant originally in the Middle Ages, when it firsts appeared in English, 'to poach, or illegally to take labour &om another man' s service', and was widely used by feudals.

The opposite kind of change ш word meaning, when the word becomes applicable to t greater number of referents, is called extension, or widenlng of meaning: guy and cook, for example, were not applied to women until the 16th century but пои they аге; hoover, Macintosh, zerox, sandwich, boycott, lynch were primarily used only to пате certair. persons but now they are applied to whole classes of objects or events.

Very often extended meanings become more abstract, less detailed, more general than tht original, hence the synonymic use of the term generalization for this process. Th< meaning of the word ready, for example, has undergone the process of widening ant generalization. It comes from ОЕ rade that meant 'prepared for а ride'.

The majority of generic terms like person [ME, fr. OFr persone, &. Ь persona 'actor'< mask, character in а play'], animal [L. 1г. anima 'зоиГ], way [МЕ, &. ОЕ weg; akin t(OHG м ед 'way', ОЕ wegan 'to move', Ь vehere 'to carry'], passed through the process о: generalization either in their native language or in the language of borrowing or in th(process of borrowing.

Iп some cases the word undergoes changes that cannot be termed either generalization oi specialization because.the word radically changes its meaning. Such а process may b< called а semantic shift. Thus, the result of meaning change in the word fair from th< original 'beautiful' to 'not dark: BLOND' may be qualified as а semantic shift

. The wor< silly has indergone а semantic shift because originally it meant 'happy, blessedГ'..Since th< Middle Ages the word meal has undergone а process of narrowing [МЕ meel 'appointet time, meal'], but before that there was а semantic shift [МЕ meel, &. ОЕ mtzl: akin tr OHG mal 'time', L тейп' 'to measure'].

The word mav сЬапае its теап1па to the opposlte. The shift to the opposite is observed

«1ц|с1с', in the adjective и ип was originally used for the notion 'dark' ап4 ~o~ it is цвет also for 'pale'.

, 1 „oв|де changes of the denotational meaning воле changes of connotational, take place, too. Scholars speak about:

amelioratlve development, or amelioration, when а word acquires favourable,о1а1|оов (cf.: the former meaning of the word minister 'а servant', of the adjective

+pbiQ that meant in Latin 'well known', the semantic development of the word gentle рщ gentil, fr. OF, fr. L gentilis 'of а clan, from gent- 'clan, nation', etc.), or

— pejorative development, or pejoration, when а word finally takes on pejorative ~вос~айопв (rude 'lacking refinement, coarse, vulgar, robust' meant 'crude' and later mieducated'; uccideuf 'an unexpectant happening causing loss or injury' саше from more neutral 'something that happened'„silly meant 'happy', villain 'а low-born, base- niinded rustic' in 1303 meant just 'one of the serfs of the feudal system', slave originally meant 'of Slav origin').

elative words usually undergo pejoration, like the humble word stool came from lofty ОЕ sto 'throne'.

The number of words with pejorative development is greater than the number of words with ameliorative development. That prompts many scholars to explain this process Ь аш |в ргосевв у

invoking traits of human nature, ош readiness to point out and speak about the worst in anybody or anything, and to remain silent about good things and take them for granted. I3ut this hypothesis can' t be supported and doesn' t explain why words with positive meaning still appear in language.

Fewest changes of meaning are observed in words that are not influenced а lot by external factors, like in primary terms of kinship (father, utofher, duughfer, son, brother, sisfer, and во on) or names of colours (red, blue, and green).