In looking over the Oxford English Dictionary, It appeared to me hat the word Con is a very versatile word. With no one clear-cut definition judging from the Oxford English Dictionary, it can be interpreted from anything ranging from as a verb meaning to know or as a noun meaning a squirrel (OED). With a rich history dating back to the times that Beowulf was written, this one three-letter word can be used to describe a number of actions and things.
To
me Con means a person who is or has been incarcerated and also it means
generally one who carries out or participates in something illegal.
In many films such as Gone in 60 Seconds and Con Air and also in books
like The Con Man give a showing of how this word is looked upon by our
society. This darker meaning the word sets the main tone for its
use in our society. Yet we can see in films like Gone in 60 Seconds,
the Con taking a nobler image like a former Con coming back to a life of
crime for a reason of great importance, usually to risk their lives for
a loved one. Showing that there is an inherent nobility within a
Con creates a view that one can change and gives Con a brighter term.
In the Cassell's Dictionary of Slang defines Con as a number or things,
as a noun.
"1 [early 19C] a confidant. 2[mid-19C]
a conundrum. 3 [late 19C] a conformist. [late 19C] a contract. 5[late 19C+]
a confidence man, confidence trick or game.
6[late 19C+] a convict; thus ex-con,
a former prisoner. [abbr.]" (p264
As a verb,
"[late 19C+] (orig. US) 1. to fool
a victim in one or another form of confidence trick. 2. to persuade,
to coax (without criminal intent), usu. As con ... into [abbr. SE confidence
trick]" (p265)
The definition of the verb form is much more familiar to me in being used to trick or to fool a victim. Even though it clearly expressed without a criminal intent, I can draw a more realistic meaning from it. With expressions like "pulling a con job" refers to tricking some one into doing something that they are not inclined to do. Although I clearly see Con as a negative word, in vast amount of literature the character that is perceived as a Con is made to evolve beyond this negative pose.
The history of the word Con is a very interesting one since there was no standardization of the English language until around the time of Edmond Spencer, because back when there was no standard for spelling every word was spelled the way that it was pronounced. That makes researching how a word was developed and derived interesting because we cannot always see how words are linked to other words. In the Oxford English Dictionary the other forms of Con are cunnan, cunnen, cun, kunne, kun, donnen, cone, and conne. In Middle English Con was linked to can "to be able to" and cunning, as well as "to learn"(OED). The Oxford English Dictionary also states Con was derived from phrases in Old English such as to cun or con thanks a phrase that is still used around the welsh provinces in England to this day. To know or study was a main theme of the old term of Con. "To get to know; to study or learn, esp. by repetition (mental or vocal); hence, in wider sense, to pore over, peruse, commit to memory; to inspect, scan, examine" (OED). In the different examples set by the Oxford English Dictionary we can see the earliest use of Con in that manner dating back to 1425. Another word that Con is related to is cunne. To Cunne means to sing for someone's favor, or to just inspire feelings between two people. The art of Cunneing is seen as to know some one or just to know, showing how Con derives its meaning to know.
Con is an extremely versatile word, with a rich history that dates back very far. Since it is so hard to find one strict universal definition of this word it shows that it played and still plays an important role in our day-to-day language. To Con has definitely taken on a meaning as a verb showing a darker side of our society. The fact that there are just so many definitions of the word makes it hard to truly understand the word and to know just what it is.