Comments on: Words Invented by Shakespeare

By: LUSM

LUSM — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:10:13 +0000

Just give up with the words my brain hurts!!! Is thee and thy shakspears times words!!!

By: sophia

sophia — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:29:57 +0000

Get more words

By: alex

alex — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:58:15 +0000

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!!!!!>:-(

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:46:27 +0000

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.

By: Ha

Ha — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:58:31 +0000

Shakespeare is cool.

By: patrick

patrick — Sun, 24 May 2009 03:20:36 +0000

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???

By: rozie

rozie — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:31:26 +0000

whats the Shakespearean word for soon? im in year 7 lol i have it for hamework!

By: Jonathan Glenn

Jonathan Glenn — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:41:46 +0000

Yes, the previous post is correct. Many of these words are from contemporary languages. Champion, for instance, is from French.

By: NO-ONE

NO-ONE — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:43:06 +0000

Iâ€™m doing an essay on Shakespeareâ€™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 donâ€™t think you can truly â€˜inventâ€™ a word unless it isnâ€™t in any other language and has an original meaning. Itâ€™s very true that the pop culture is throwing in new words every other day, and donâ€™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 isnâ€™t exactly â€œfacts carved in stoneâ€, I found it very informing and interesting. Thanks!!

By: jo.

jo. — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:26:01 +0000

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!!