You can trace word usage over an extensive corpus, courtesy of Google books, and over a time span that you might find interesting - even fun, for a few tries.
Read of it here; try it here. A few I did, so readers could see what great insights I've uncovered [as always, click a thumbnail image to enlarge and read]:
I admit to an arguably shallow first effort. Have a try. My charts are easily out-done.
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Here, here and here, for further commentary.