According to my research, "literally" used to mean "figuratively", or at least it was used by many people to mean "figuratively" several centuries ago. Yet, although there were some detractors, I can't place where or who officially separated "literally" and "figuratively" to how we understood it in the past few decades, and I'd like to know how it all came about.
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2Did you come across this during your research? Did We Change the Definition of 'Literally'? (Merriam-Webster) TLDR; Dictionaries document usage. They don't invent meanings for words.– ColleenVApr 12, 2022 at 19:22
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I see a form of inflation, or addiction to drama. When naughty wasn't enough to mean saucy but good, we needed bad and wicked. When figuratively or really lost their punch, literally took over. Literally. Meaning figuratively, but strongly so.– Yosef BaskinApr 12, 2022 at 19:31
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1Please give a source for your research. Also be aware that English language usage is not changed by official decree — there is no equivalent of the Académie Française — but by usage. Buy yourself a subscription to the OED to find the history of the usage of English words.– DavidApr 12, 2022 at 19:38
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2@Steven Please show your research: exactly what you found, and where you found it.– Andrew Leach ♦Apr 12, 2022 at 21:26
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1Multiple similar questions have already been closed as duplicates of this: "Literally" and "Decimate" misuse I don't think there's any more to be usefully added.– Stuart FApr 13, 2022 at 10:12
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1 Answer
Your research, which you have not told us about, but should have done, is wrong because of a lack of research:
The simplest way to find the origins of a word and its history is Online Etymology Dictionary
A better way is to gain access to the Oxford English Dictionary, which, for literally, gives:
1. a. In a literal, exact, or actual sense; not figuratively, allegorically, etc.
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 553 Litteraly haf ȝe herde this dreme and what it ment. [Literally you have heard this dream and what it meant.]
So we see that this is the earliest meaning and literally still has that meaning today.
But a few lines down, we have:
1. c. colloquial. Used to indicate that some (frequently conventional) metaphorical or hyperbolical expression is to be taken in the strongest admissible sense: ‘virtually, as good as’; (also) ‘completely, utterly, absolutely’.
Now one of the most common uses, although often considered irregular in standard English since it reverses the original sense of literally (‘not figuratively or metaphorically’).
The earliest record of this sense is
1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.
Both meanings exist side by side in current English. You should be able to tell which is which by the context.
I can't place where or who officially separated "literally" and "figuratively".
And you never will be able to. English has no "official body" that says how the language may be used or what a word may mean.
Dictionaries are merely a record of the [almost] present meaning
answered Apr 12, 2022 at 21:49
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The above gives the impression that all blockquotes are from Etymon. Apr 13, 2022 at 13:36
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Not true. '1769 F. Brooke Hist. Emily Montague IV. ccxvii. 83 He is a fortunate man to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies.' could be a quote-within-a-quote. Apr 14, 2022 at 14:29
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@EdwinAshworth Sir, I say pish and poh to your cavils: regardless, in to be introduced to such a party of fine women at his arrival; it is literally to feed among the lilies, nobody fed and nobody was among the lillies." Apr 14, 2022 at 16:38