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The Long Road of Nice
If you called someone nice in 1300 you were calling them stupid. The word has travelled further than almost any in English, from foolish to precise to delightful, never sitting still for long. Here is the whole strange journey of one small word.
nescius → nice
From the Latin for ignorant, through foolish and then fussily precise, to the warm vague compliment we use today.
📜🪶💬01.01.1300 – 01.01.1800
01.01.1300Enters English from Old French meaning foolish, weak or simple.
01.01.1300
01.01.1400Shifts to mean fussy, finicky or overly precise about small things.
01.01.1400
01.01.1500Comes to mean subtle or requiring care, as in a nice distinction.
01.01.1500
01.01.1700Softens toward agreeable and refined in polite society.
01.01.1700
01.01.1800Settles into the broad friendly meaning of pleasant and kind.
01.01.1800
"It is a very nice word indeed. It does for everything.
"Jane Austen · Northanger Abbey
First attested
around 1300
Root
Latin nescius, not knowing