Editing Gentrification (section)

==Origin and etymology==
[[File:Mk Berlin Pfefferberg.jpg|thumb|Symbolic gentrification in Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin]]

Historians say that gentrification took place in [[ancient Rome]] and in [[Roman Britain]], where large [[villa]]s were replacing small shops by the 3rd century, AD.<ref name=Roman/> The word ''gentrification'' derives from ''[[gentry]]''—which comes from the Old French word ''genterise'', "of gentle birth" (14th century) and "people of gentle birth" (16th century). In England, ''[[landed gentry]]'' denoted the social class, consisting of [[gentlemen]] (and gentlewomen, as they were at that time known).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Etymology |date=1966 |editor-first1=C. T. |editor-last1=Onions |editor-first2=G. W. S. |editor-last2=Friedrichsen |editor-first3=R. W. |editor-last3=Burchfield |title=Gentry |page=394}}<br>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gentry |title=gentry |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |first=Douglas |last=Harper |year=2001 |access-date=2 January 2008}}</ref>

A more direct derivational base of ''gentrification'' is the 19th-century [[neologism]] 'gentrify,' a verb coined by [[Samuel Laing (travel writer)|Samuel Laing]] (1780–1868). This term reflected shifting societal attitudes—specifically, the idea that one could attain upper-class status through conduct rather than birth—while also introducing undertones of conspicuous consumption and pretentiousness.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kitis |first1=E. Dimitris |title=The genealogy of ‘gentrification’: Semantic prosody, metonymies, and metaphors of a class-struggle discourse in English |journal=Language & Communication |date=2024 |volume=99 |pages=229–243 |doi=10.1016/j.langcom.2024.10.009 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0271530924000715 |access-date=23 January 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref>

British [[sociologist]] [[Ruth Glass]] was first to use "gentrification" in its current sense.<ref name=":3" /> She used it in 1964 to describe the influx of [[middle-class]] people displacing [[Working class|lower-class]] worker residents in urban neighborhoods; her example was [[London]], and its working-class districts such as [[Islington]]:<ref>{{cite book|last=Glass|first=Ruth|title=London: aspects of change|publisher=MacGibbon & Kee|year=1964|location=London}} as cited in {{harvtxt|Atkinson|Bridge|2005|page=4}}</ref>

{{blockquote|One by one, many of the working class neighbourhoods of London have been invaded by the middle-classes—upper and lower. Shabby, modest [[mews]] and cottages—two rooms up and two down—have been taken over, when their [[lease]]s have expired, and have become elegant, expensive residences&nbsp;... Once this process of 'gentrification' starts in a district it goes on rapidly, until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed.}}