Language Change

Language change:
Nag:

The word was first printed in 1336 in a novel.

 “1336–7 in C. M. Woolgar Househ. Accts. Medieval Eng. (1992) I. 182 Item in i ferro anteriore pro le nagg et i remocione pro morel ii d.”

The word was created in early modern English and was referring to a horse so not gender specific. It then turned into being used for slang as a penis and then a prostitute.

Was first used as a verb before a noun in 1728. An example “Nag, to gnaw at anything hard.”

The spelling of the word has changed; used to have variations of “nagg” “nage” “nyag” “naig” or “nagge” .
 

The dictionary definition is: “1. A small riding-horse or pony; (colloq.) a horse, now esp. an old or feeble one. Occas. also fig.”
This doesn’t match my definition, I would define nag as being “to complain”.

The word has gone through pejoration because is now a negative thing to be told you’re nagging. It has also narrowed because is no longer used for so many purposes.

Bird:

The word was first used in a800: “a800 Corpus Gl. (O.E. Texts) 1687 Pullus, brid.”

a.orig. The general name for the young of the feathered tribes; a young bird; a chicken, eaglet, etc.; a nestling. The only sense in Old English; found in literature down to 1600; still retained in north. dial. as ‘a hen and her birds’.

The use then broadened and was used to describe the young of other animals before then describing a young man or son. This suggests the word was then male specific contrasting todays use being gender specific to females. In a1400 it broadened to referring to females also as a maiden.

The definition does match mine.