Cosmopolitan: A Look into a Name
Cosmopolitan began as a “first-class” family-oriented magazine for women in the 19th century, something that is completely different from the magazine we know today.
The origin of the word cosmopolitan is related to the word cosmopolite which could be related to Cosmopolitanism, defined as “the ideology that all human beings belong to a single community, based on a shared morality. A person who adheres to the idea of cosmopolitanism in any of its forms is called a cosmopolitan or cosmopolite.” I personally think the original use of the name was very different than the one being used today, however, I do feel this definition fits both versions of the magazine.
They are both about conforming to be a certain type of woman. They are both advocating for very different types of women but they both seem to focus on “how to’s” and the “right way” to do things, or in fact how to be the picturesque embodiment of their type of woman.
The other thing that we associate with the word more recently would of course be the Cosmopolitan cocktail. I feel this association leads us into a higher class feeling. Women feel classy when they drink this pink, aromatic cocktail, or rather I imagine they would. Perhaps that is really what the magazine wants – to make the reader feel they are part of a higher class world. Even looking into the original magazine, this word means higher class and cultured at the time.
I feel in closure the word Cosmopolitan or Cosmo, as it is famously known as now, is really effective in bringing the reader into a “first class” world.