Early Modernity: The History of a Word

Beginning with an in-depth definition of the word modern, a detailed history of the word is presented, with reference to its first use in the 6th century to the present day. Modern is traced throughout time in numerous situations, including Dante's Inferno, the first literary work to use the word frequently, Giavanni Boccacio's Decameron, & in 1451 modern was used to describe forms of clothing being worn (Alcover 1930). Today modern conveys self-consciousness about the difference between the present & the past, a clear-cut opposite of the old, as well as a measured change. 45 References. A. Covington