While recognizing that there is a difference in connotation between these two words, I hear the former more and more often. I fear that "proud" as an adjective is being lost, somehow, or that those using it (mistakenly) think that "proud" has always the same negative connotation that "prideful" does. Is there anyone who can allay my fears on this matter?

It’s a question of usage, in the end. I know that there is a difference between "proud" and "prideful." The latter always has a negative connotation as being unjustified, whereas proud can be used either positively or negatively.

But I noticed some people using "prideful" where I would think "proud" was the more appropriate word. I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this, or if it’s a figment of my imagination. Is there a drift, with more people using "prideful" where "proud" used to be perfectly acceptable? If so, does it mean that "prideful" is becoming less negative, or that we’re losing the sense in which the word "proud" in itself does not automatically convey the sense of unjustified pride or hubris?

Thanks for the welcome. I’m sorry if I’m in the wrong section of the Agora, but etymology seemed the best place to ask a question about a possible evolution of meaning. Is there a better place to ask, though?

Not sure if I can help much, since I haven’t seen the distinction you’ve detected.
Both proud and prideful have positive and negative uses, and those uses go back a long way - the postive use of prideful is 150 years old, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Grant

There seems to be, for no reason at all, a general need to use the longest possible word.  When I was writing in school, I used to go to the thesaurus, believing that the correct word must be the one with the most letters, so instead of referring to "wild beasts", for instance, I referred to "undomesticated" ones.  The longest word is not necessarily always the best, however.  People could (in fact, they often do) substitute "usage" when they ought to use the noun "use".  I was surprised, to be honest, that the dictionary actually mentions "prideful".  To extend the trend, "prideful" could feasibly lead to "pridefulness", which just seems silly to me.

Katy - I think hushai was pointing at the intention of using "pridefulness" to mean "pride"... Seems like a very contrived word in that context.

However…

If you accept prideful to mean ambitious, then it would follow that you would need pridefulness to describe ambitiousness... Or something to that effect.

I have always heard a difference in the uses of prideful and proud.

I was shocked to see proudness listed in the AHD—I always thought that’s what pride was used to describe!

[quote author=granthutchison link=board=etymology;num=1039223110;start=0#4 date=12/10/02 at 17:48:56]Not sure if I can help much, since I haven’t seen the distinction you’ve detected.
Both proud and prideful have positive and negative uses, and those uses go back a long way - the postive use of prideful is 150 years old, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Grant

Apparently some writers feel there is enough difference to prefer one word over another.  
The feeling we can get of proud
(at least the verb) is to be very pleased.  To be prideful can seem to be inordinately (even unmerited)  pleased.  From my perspective anyway.
J.

Proud parents sounds far more warm-and-fuzzy to me than prideful parents…