Archaic KJV Word
Naughty
Modern equivalent: wicked
What Was Lost
The moral bankruptcy dimension. When Proverbs called someone naughty, it meant they were spiritually empty -- reduced to nothing, morally zeroed out. Jeremiah's naughty figs were not playfully disobedient fruit but figs so rotten they were worthless, fit only for destruction. The word measured the distance between created purpose and actual condition.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
naught (zero/nothing -- preserves the 'worthlessness' root)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Proverbs 6:12 -- 'A naughty person, a wicked man'; Jeremiah 24:2 -- 'naughty figs, which could not be eaten'
Died ~1800
Catastrophic trivialization. 'Naughty' descended from 'naught' (nothing/worthless) meaning 'wicked/morally worthless,' then softened through centuries to describe children stealing cookies.
What Replaced It
“wicked”
Generic evil; naughty specifically meant 'having come to naught' -- morally bankrupt, worth nothing
“bad”
Flat and vague; naughty carried the judgment that a person or thing had been weighed and found worthless
“mischievous”
Playful and endearing; the original naughty was a death sentence on someone's character