To Do it Hardly, a Linguistic Reflection

(I hardly knew how hard it was to work hard at this job, for I hardly worked at the jobs I have worked in the past).

Have you ever had someone, whether it be a co-worker or someone else, come up to you and ask, "Are you working hard, or hardly working?"

Of course anyone who said so would say it was meant as a joke, of sorts. One never wants to consider him/herself as "hardly working." Joke or not, the linguistic side of me had an odd thought, and caused me to think "deeper inside the box," so to speak. Let's take the two words "hard" and "hardly" and give them a closer look. 

When we see the words, a bit of English logic would tell you that one of them is the adverb form of an adjective of the same root. So if something is done hardly, it should be in a strong or solid fashion, something done with great force. In this situation if something is hardly done, it has an almost opposite kind of emphasis. Making the meaning more like the word "rarely." One situation could also be seen when saying "hardly" or "not hardly." The way this combination works these two forms should have the opposite meaning, and yet they don't. So how did this strange linguistic puzzle come about?

The simple answer is, language changes. The word "hard" comes from "heard," the Old English word for "strength." So if something is hard or done hard, it's done with great strength. Hardly, however, is a slightly complex different matter. It's a descriptive adverb from the same root, but primarily used to attach to a verb for emphasis. "Hardly working" essentially means to do work with minimal effort. Somehow the adverb has flipped its meaning from its Old English adjective it is modifying. In the Middle English period the form of the word then still had the same meaning that it carried in the Old English period. 

It was in the late Middle English period where the word changed its meaning into its almost opposite use. This is hardly new in the English language. Many words have meanings changed drastically over time. What makes this case interesting is that the original root maintains its basic meaning that it had in Old English. It is the adverb that had flipped its original meaning.

Well, here's another thing to think of. When whipping out Webster's Collegiate Dictionary we find that the word "hardly" also has a definition of "with force", "with difficulty", or "in a severe manner." So the word still has the old meaning when one wants to use it, but how often do we see or hear one using the word in that way? Nobody would assume that someone asking if he/she was "hardly working" that  "with strength" or "in a severe manner" was what was meant.

Of course, that doesn't keep you from using the word how you wish to use it. The next time someone asks if you are working hard or hardly working, just say you are doing both. Just as you can say you are doing something happily, thus in a happy manner, if you are hardly working you are doing it with intensity and force.

For this and other reasons people have to admit that English could be considered a messed up language not too easy to learn. I would argue that these things make English a more interesting language, for there are so many new things people can learn about it each day, even if it be the first language they learned at their mother's knee.