Re: Why does the meaning of words change?

Carsten Becker scripsit:

> My question is already posted in the header of this mail: Why does the
> meaning of words change during the centuries, sometimes even radically?
It's a complete mystery.  One can see in a general sort of way why
a pot resembles a head, but why did people in both France and Germany
start to use their inherited word for "pot" to mean "head" (TESTA > tete,
KOPP, Eng. "cup" > kopf), and why just at that time?  It certainly
couldn't have been foreseen.

In our own time, the word "store" (in the sense "storage facility")
has been out-competed by the metaphorical term "memory" for the device
a computer uses to keep track of its ones and zeros?  Why?  Americans
generally speaking out-competed the British in the early days of the
computer industry.  But why did the Americans choose a metaphorical
term, the British a literal one?

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