Today while browsing the ever so beautiful interwebs, I came across something interesting about Shakespeare. Turns out that our second favourite William (after the one and only William Gates of course) invented over 1700 of the words we use commonly use, by simply turning nouns into verbs, adjectives into verbs, and so forth..
Here is a very small list of words he invented:
- Accused
- Addiction
- Advertising
- Amazement
- Arouse
- Assassination
- Bandit
- Bedroom
- Beached
- Blanket
- Bump
- Cater
- Champion
- Countless
- Epileptic
- Fixture
- Flawed
- Generous
- Hint
- Lonely
- Mimic
- Negotiate
- Obscene
- Premeditated
- Rant
- Summit
- Torture
- Varied
- Worthless
- Zany
Well the list goes on, and you can read more about it here, or phrases he invented here. It is not surprising that he has had so much influence on the English language, as he is arguably the greatest playwright ever. But it is remarkable how he never felt confined to using only ‘true’ lexicon.
It is disappointing that we are taught that there is a word for everything, because it hampers our imagination to develop, to feel, to express, anything which has not been defined before. And sometimes we convince ourselves that if there is no word for it, then it cannot exist.
I hope we all can take an example from Shakespeare, and dare to break the structured guidelines.
According to Charles and Mary Cowden Clarke in “The Shakespeare Key” (1879), Shakespeare, “with his peculiar royal privilege as king of all poets, has minted several words that deserve to become current in our language. He coined them for his own special use to express his own special meanings in his own special passages.”
They go on to enumerate many of the particular instances of Shakespeare’s coining new words. The full article can be read here:
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/shakespeare031.html
Shakespeare did NOT invent the word Assassin. It’s been used for many hundreds of years and comes from the word Hashish. In India long ago, Hashish was collected by Indian soldiers by running naked through Marijuana fields whilst covered in a certain oil so as to collect the THC crystals in bulk. After a run was completed, the condensed THC would be scraped off the man and processed into hash. These men were known as the Hashassin. It was customary for the soldiers to ingest hash as it would calm them during battle thus effective strategy was not so hard. Eventually, India implemented tactical espionage which was taught to these soldiers. The word assassin developed from this. Shakespeare did NOT invent this word.
@KAPPA and everyone else
Yes.. invented might be the wrong word… but he was the first to coin the terms in the English language. Further discussion?
Thank you for your site to which I arrived as I am preparing a presentation (volunteer basis) on “Dante and Shakespeare – The International Power of Poetry”.
Humble suggestion. It may be of interest to your site visitors the book I wrote, “Your Daily Shakespeare – an Arsenal of Verbal Weapons to Drive your Friends into Action and your Enemies into Despair”. It is a collection of 10,000 plus every day life situations connected to a befitting Shakespearean quote. Site, with examples, description, etc. is
http://www.yourdailyshakespeare.com
Best Regards,
jimmie moglia
Bump???? Shakespeare invented this word? Where does it COME from?
hi there
wonderful post
greatings
Agree
I’ve come upon this post a bit late in its lifetime, but I feel I have something to add (or detract if one is so inclined) to this discussion.
Simon, James, and Brian all have very valid points in response to Michael’s criticism; even Alex’s initial response held water.
Michaels, if ever you return to this post, I commend you for your study of English in all it’s facets; indeed, you may have a greater appreciation for English as a secondary language, than I will ever have, it being my primary spoken tongue. However, I think your outrage has been misplaced. As you are an English major and practicing novice linguist, I think you should know more about the language you study (it is possible you are misplacing information in your white-hot rage, but your post is composed so that it is hard to come to that conclusion).
Firstly, you are an English major… not an “Emglish” major. If you’re going to correct someone else’s typos or grammatical slip-ups, please check your own work before you become a hypocrite.
Secondly, adapting a word to the English language (I believe the Victorian Humanists and ascertainists call these “inkhorn” terms) is not, by any means, the invention of a new word. It is, at its highest, an adaptation. Alex is correct in his statement that many of Shakespeare’s inventions are, quite literally, mere stolen words, like “bandit.” You are even correct in your statement that English is notorious in its history of stealing from other languages (although, if you knew your English language history, you would know that 400 years is not even close to the length of time it’s been happening; 400yrs places English in the 17th century, at about Shakespeare’s reign on the language, when, in fact, the language’s notoriety runs all the way back to the eighth century, near the invasion of Brittan by the Danes–a span of closer to 1200 years).
I think you ought to hesitate more in blurting that English does not come from as humble an origin as Greek, Latin, and Hungarian, either. Again, if you were more versed in the ancient history of the language, you may say have a less fiery rage. If you look back towards the origins of West Germanic, the great-grandfather of English, you would see an ancestor that Greek, Spanish, Hungarian, Iranian, Finnish, and even Hindi all have in common: a father tongue: the Proto-Indo-European ancestor. In English’s immediate history, it comes from a melding of three basic languages: Old Norse, Anglo-Saxon, and Celtic (or Old Gaelic). Close to 400 A.D., Latin began a still-lingering campaign in depositing words into our language (through the Roman conquest first, then leading on from there, most recently rearing its head in the Scientific Revolution of the 1800s). After that, around 1200, we see the Franco-Norman conquest and the consequent stealing of over 12,000 commonly used words from its ranks. While Greek and Latin are now dead, Hungarian and Spanish are still alive (though heavily steeped in inflective grammar and usage), proof that English is not that different in its resiliency and determination to flourish.
Indeed, Shakespeare is an amazing figure when it comes to vocabulary; scholars of his work estimate his personal repertoire at close to 30,000 words, while the average individual today has between 8000 and 12,000 words at one’s disposal–truly an amazing man. Nevertheless, so little is known about his writing process or the actual spoken “street” vocabulary of the time that it is fallible to state, indefinitely, that any of his words were not already in use among the common public. Simon’s allusion to the Jabberwocky is a solid point. Bill Shakes was by no means the only author to contribute en masse to the general vocabulary. Look at his contemporaries: Marlowe, alone, donated a good 80 words, Milton gave us around 20–mostly from Latinate origin, at that, and Chaucer (as Simon, again brings up) gave common English an estimated minimum of 50 words, 30 of which are common usages in American English. So Shakespeare was (as the old adage states) “standing on the shoulders of giants,” and was in no way special because of his contribution for innovation, rather for volume.
Lastly, the closing passage of Michael’s “rant” (more of a ramble, to me) is completely disturbing to any self-respecting student of the English language:
“Bottom line is that Shakespeare is the ONLY author whose plays and poems require a glossary to explain the meaning of many of the words so that native speakers can understand what he is saying, also many people get upset and confused when his poems and songs don’t rhyme.. THEY DO but the accent has shifted, they rhymed in his time, English has changed.”
Simon also addresses this:
“Lots of texts from older English require clarification for a modern speaker. Shakespeare is just so common, and studied by so many children who don’t have a complete grasp of the language when reading a text several centuries old, that it is benefited by it.”
I, too, will address it. I admit, I have not received my letters for English yet, as I am still in my third year of study, but I can still see the flaws in this heated jab. As I understand, Piksels is a discussion forum for any one interested in the intricacies of the textual revolution the world finds itself in. On such a note, Michael, I single you out in your callousness for berating any one with a questionable statement. You strike me as a man fit for the Royal English Academy, in all its glory, instructing your less-educated inferiors on the correct way to say “the.” St. Thomas Aquinas, in his essays “On the Nature of Human Beings,” states that we are “fallible beings, corporeal in nature, capable of great evil and great good….” I find this very insightful as a peer of many thousands of others in my field of study; I know a great many things, but I will never, in my lifetime, know all the things my fellows know. Always a student, sometimes a teacher. As are we all. Learn from what is said, be an observer, and lend advice, not law.
As a last note, if you think that Shakespeare is the only one that requires a glossary, try reading Beowulf, or The Wanderer. Maybe take those with a side of Milton, and a sprinkling of Robert Burns.
does ne1 know where i can go to see like how exactly he changed the word. like where it flat out says this was a noun and he chaged it into a verb? help would be appreciated i’ve been looking for weeks.
Cynera,
There are a number of great works devoted, entirely, to the influence Ben had on the world of grammar.
If you’re looking for something to quote, or just some tidbits for your “quiver of knowledge,” the World Book Encyclopedia has a great, albeit short, section on Shakespeare.
If you’re looking for something more corporeal, more juicy (i.e. something to sink your academic/philosophic teeth into), there are three books that do a well enough job of this.
The first is by a well-known syntax expert: Ulrich Busse, and is titled Linguistic Variation in the Shakespeare Corpus. This specific book is about as in-depth as you could possibly want, getting as technicals as the differences between the tenses of the words used by Shakespeare.
The second book is an, essentially, an instructor on how the contemporary reader/performer should phonetically (or otherwise) sound the words written by the great poet. Pronouncing Shakespeare’s Words: A Guide from A to Zounds, by Dale Coye is a favorite of mine, because, not only, does it go into detail about the pronunciations, but it takes great care to show how the soundings of these words have changed, or been invented. This is probably the book you, specifically, are looking for. I don’t know about translations of it though, I have it in English and am ignorant to the other languages it is supplied in.
The last book is a staple for study of the English language among the English. The book is by one Melvin Bragg, and is called The Adventures of English. It goes into relative detail about the path of the upcoming language from infancy. Essentially, it is a study of the syntactic and grammatical phenomena that have made English such a resilient language over time. In it, he spends a good chapter, along with numerous asides, on the poet extraordinaire, and examines (not exhaustively) the influence he, alone, had on the language.
I hope this helps, These three gave me a great passion for the Romantics, and later poets whom William influenced. And, from the looks, you already have the hunger that makes a great, and liberally educated, intellectual.
Good Luck on your searches.
I like Shakespeare!!!!
shakespeare is well and truly great
who else could make up words and a meaning for them
not me for sure
Thats cool. Do you know where to find the entire list?
Kindly inform me the
shakespearean usage to indicate ordinal numbers.
Arif
[...] can find more information about Shakespeare’s influence here, here, and [...]
American Eskimo Dog Showing
Do you learn this stuff in some sort of fancy school or something?
thanks so much,that was a great, very good info!!!!!!!!! = )
I am only 10. But I believe that shakespeare has been a great poet and i admire him
I’m doing an essay on Shakespeare’s major contributions to the English Language, and this link popped up. I love Shakespeare, and I get chills reading his melodic sonnets and plays. But, I don’t think you can truly ‘invent’ a word unless it isn’t in any other language and has an original meaning. It’s very true that the pop culture is throwing in new words every other day, and don’t we catch ourselves using them more often? I credit bravery to the author of this note. You have gotten quite a lot of responses and criticism. I might also add, I am not much older than Jessica. (Which, by the way, ROCKS!) I am glad to see that there are young people such as I that enjoy and appreciate Old English Literature.
So anyways, even if this article isn’t exactly “facts carved in stone”, I found it very informing and interesting. Thanks!!
I’m doing an essay on Shakespeare’s major contributions to the English Language, and this link popped up. I love Shakespeare, and I get chills reading his melodic sonnets and plays. But, I don’t think you can truly ‘invent’ a word unless it isn’t in any other language and has an original meaning. It’s very true that the pop culture is throwing in new words every other day, and don’t we catch ourselves using them more often? I credit bravery to the author of this note. You have gotten quite a lot of responses and criticism. I might also add, I am not much older than Jessica. (Which, by the way, ROCKS!) I am glad to see that there are young people such as I that enjoy and appreciate Old English Literature.
So anyways, even if this article isn’t exactly “facts carved in stoneâ€, I found it very informing and interesting. Thanks!!
Yes, the previous post is correct. Many of these words are from contemporary languages. Champion, for instance, is from French.
whats the Shakespearean word for soon? im in year 7 lol i have it for hamework!
ok to start off with and i know i am seriously late but do you people seriously think that typing words which people probably never come back to is important as i am doing myself but who cares?
you people should get a life and do something useful like go on posts that actually last???
Shakespeare is cool.
I know I’m chiming in to this post a year or so later, but I was browsing for information about Shakespeare’s invented words and I found this. Let me just say that he did invent these words. He didn’t just borrow a word from a different language and pass it on as his own word. For example, an earlier poster said he took the word ‘accused’ from ‘acusio’, the latin for ‘torture’. He then assumed that Shakespeare didn’t invent ‘accuse’ (even though in English it doesn’t mean torture), and that it came from latin sources. As a teacher of English as a foreign language, this type of thing is known as a ‘false friend’, where a word in a different language looks the same as a word you’re familiar with, but has a completely different meaning. For example, the word ‘Camera’ means ‘Room’ in Italian, which tricks a lot of English speaking tourists. There are loads of others like that in all kinds of different languages. The same applies for Shakespeare’s words. Just because it looks the same as another word doesn’t mean it is any less original. The invention of the word is the meaning behind it, and even if ‘accuse’ and ‘accusio’ look the same, it doesn’t mean they are the same.
hey, if no-one “stole” words from other languages, ENGLISH wouldn’t have been invented!! the entire essence of “inventing” is taking bits and pieces of other things to make something new!!! So if shakespeare took bits and pieces of other languages, or even put together english words that existed, and the words that were formed didn’t exist, HE INVENTED THEM!!!!!>:-(
Get more words
Just give up with the words my brain hurts!!! Is thee and thy shakspears times words!!!
Personally I think you’re all overreacting and seriously, Michael, I personally think you look more like an IDIOT than anything else. Seriously, Alex was just trying to make a point and you go and bash him?
Actually, he didn’t invented them, his writings just happen to be the earliest written record of those words (words are used first in speech and then in writings).
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