The origin of five words from "Gentleman of the Road"

melancholy- Old French, Late Latin, and Greek

emperor- Old French, Latin, Middle English

stamina- Latin

stallion- Old French, Middle English, Anglo-Norman, German

jargon- Old French, Middle English

Author Quest

Do any of these expressions sound familiar to you?

“Dead as a doornail”
"Elbow room”
“Good Riddance”
"For goodness sake”
“I have not slept a wink”
“Into thin air”
“Love is blind”

"Short and the long of it”

“Kill with kindness”

“Too much of a good thing”

“Well-behaved”

“Wild goose chase”

“Sorry sight”

“Never-ending”

These are just a few of William Shakespeare’s invented phrases. According to Alan Riding and Leslie Dunton-Downer, “The many phrases invented by William Shakespeare were expressions that used to strike speakers as creative, but now they are everyday expressions in English.” Many people are knowledgeable about William Shakespeare and his many contributions to literature and history, but many people say, “Why Shakespeare?” William Shakespeare’s works continue to sell in bookstores, theaters and schools. I feel it is important for people to be aware of how and why Shakespeare has become such a significant part of American landscape.

Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright widely regarded as the greatest writer of the English language. According to McDonald, “Shakespeare’s vocabulary included 29,000 words, nearly twice that of the average American college student.” Already a popular writer in his own lifetime, Shakespeare became increasingly famous after his death in 1616 and his work was admired by many well-known cultural figures throughout the centuries. Shakespeare's works have been translated into every major living language, and his plays are continually performed all around the world. In addition, Shakespeare is the most quoted writer in the literature and history of the English-speaking world. The qualities of Shakespeare’s verse include: “density and richness, his characters express thoughts through abundant, powerful images, and metaphors, he uses figurative language, and connotative imagery, which pictures and ideas are resonating with other images, ideas, and themes in a play” (Vernon).

When Shakespeare began writing, the English language was absorbing new words more rapidly than ever before or since. As stated by N.F. Blake, “It is claimed that Shakespeare was fortunate to live at the time he did because English was both fluid and rich. English was a dynamic language of multiple heritages.” Speakers of English and those of other languages was occurring often due to war, trade, exploration, diplomacy, colonization, and pirating. Goods and ideas were coming from all over the world and new words were needed to express these numerous ideas. Shakespeare shows his interest for the evolving ideas, words and literary traditions of his time through all of his writing. It is widely assumed that Shakespeare himself introduced more words into English than all the other writers of his time combined, over 1,700. I must stress that 1,700 is an estimate because through my research I found that some claim he introduced far more than this and some claim far less. It is often difficult to determine the true origin of a word, but for many words, the Oxford English Dictionary lists a quotation from Shakespeare as its earliest example.

William Shakespeare expressed new ideas and distinctions by inventing, borrowing or adopting a word or a phrase from another language, known as neologizing or coining. For example, from the Italian bandito Shakespeare coined “bandit.” Also, from Latin he coined the words “negotiate,” “circumstantial,” “premeditated,” and “manager.” Shakespeare coined nouns, adjectives, and verbs. This is just a small list of some more words coined by Shakespeare, the nouns “advertising,” “courtship,” “amazement,” “eyeball,” “scuffle,” “embrace,” and “luggage,” the adjectives “circumstantial,” “cold-blooded,” fashionable,” and “laughable,” and the verbs “cater,” “drug,” “gossip,” “grovel,” and “misquote.” Many of Shakespeare’s words and phrases can be traced back to older forms, but Shakespeare certainly popularized the use of certain words through his plays and poems in a way that has been incomparable. Many words used by Shakespeare have been dropped or changed meaning. For example, bison (blind), proper (handsome), cousin (kinsman), and silly (innocent). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Every living language can readily be adapted to meet changes occurring in the life and culture of its speakers, and the main weight of such changes falls on vocabulary. Grammatical and phonological structures are relatively stable and change noticeably over centuries rather than decades; but vocabularies can change very quickly.”

Shakespeare's wordplay is one reason he is unique and memorable, he alternates the uses of existing words, such as using a noun as verb, connecting words never used together, or changing verbs into adjectives. “In later periods correctness of syntax and propriety in vocabulary were the primary concerns, the Elizabethans were interested in the relationship between sound and writing. The focus of linguistic interest at this period was directed towards sound, not to vocabulary or syntax” (Blake). As people read they standardize the position in which words are placed. Currently, as a rule, the subject appears first, then the verb, and then the direct object, but it seems Shakespeare did not devote too much attention to style, but was focused on painting a picture in people’s heads. According to McDonald, “Fluidity is the rule in the Shakespearian sentence, and so we encounter an immense number of syntactic possibilities. Direct objects may open a sentence when we would normally expect a subject.” For example, in Hamlet’s complaint to his mother, “…Sense sure you have, / Else could you not have motion” (3.4.71-72). Shakespeare examines relationships between words and meanings and pushed the senses of words to their limits, as when Juliet ponders Romeo’s name; What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet (2.2).

So the question here is, “Why Shakespeare?” This talent with language, and the art with which he employed its usage, is why Shakespeare is as relevant today as he was in his own time. I feel it is pretty amazing that quotes, phrases, expressions, and words used by Shakespeare hundreds of years ago can make sense to me in 2007. One of my favorite quotes is from the play, As You Like It. It says,

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages (Act II, Sc. VII).

Shakespeare is right, the world is a stage and language is what we use to perform, whether or not we chose to enjoy the performance it up to us.

My WordHoard

Noun- used to name a person, place, animal, thing, and abstract idea

woman/wife- cwene

man- monn

child- bearn

family- cyÞÞ

music/joy- drēam

water/sea- flōd

help/support/protection- fultum

teacher- lārēow

gift- lēan

memory- gemynd

friend- frēond

marriage/ sexual intercourse- synscipe

town/village- tūn

bad weather- unweder

criminal/ evil spirit- wearg

forest- holt

walrus- horshwæl

scholar/writer- bōcere

clothes- clāp

song/speech- cwidegiedd

Verb- carries the idea of being or action in a sentence

laugh- hlehhan

pray/ask- biddan

read- rædan

give birth to- ācennan

travel- faran

teach/instruct- tæcon

attack/approach- nægan

think of/imagine- (ge)Þencan

love- lufian

perform/experience- drēogan

Adjectives- modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words

many- fela

strong/powerful- strang

beautiful/pleasant- fæger

innocent/honest- bilewite

weary from drinking mead/hung over- medowērig

Adverb- indicates manner, time, place, cause, or degree and answers the questions, “how?” “when?” “where?” “how much?”

deeply- dēope

very- ful

Conjunctions- a joiner, a word that connects parts of a sentence

and- ond

but- ac

so that/because- Þæt

Prepositions- usually indicates that temporal, spatial, or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence

on- an

in/into- innan

behind- beæftan

over- ofer

between- betwēonan

Kennings- 2 nouns put together, noun creatively renamed

information-giver/ teacher/ ingefeallan-giefend

world-view/ computer/ ymbhwyrft- inscēawung

story-teller/ television/ lár-átellan

emergency-help/ paramedic/ nied-helpe

weather-person/ meteorologist/ weder-mann

My 2 sentences

The information-giver taught the children how to read.
Se ingefeallan-giefend tæcon se cildfaru hū tō rædan.

The weather-person expected bad weather for today.
Se weder-mann àbídan unweder fore tōdæg.