Language evolves. Historical meaning can inform our understanding of modern usage but doesn’t dictate or govern it.

Linguists call this “semantic drift” and it occurs in every language we know of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change

Wikipedias first English example is:

Awful – Literally "full of awe", originally meant "inspiring wonder (or fear)", hence "impressive". In contemporary usage, the word means "extremely bad".