Well-roared Lion!

We're a troupe of kids who come together every year to put on Shakespeare plays.

Monday, April 11, 2011

"There is not one word apt"

During his writings, Shakespeare invented more than a thousand words and phrases now commonly used throughout our language. Scattered throughout his plays and poems were words which at the time were entirely new and weird, but are surprisingly common within our day to day conversation.

One example of this is from our own Midsummer's Night Dream, where Oberon is talking with Puck in Act III and Scene II. The earliest recording of the word "eyeball" is when Oberon commands Puck to "take from thence all error with his might // and make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight."

But obviously there are all sorts of other archaic words that didn't age quite as well. Some are just uniquely uncommon, while others are entirely unheard of in this day and age. In Act II and Scene I, the fairies continually wax on about different flowers, from "cowslip" to "woodbine" and "muskroses" with "eglantine." And even more later on, in Act III and Scene I, the mechanicals use all sorts of crude language, with Bottom singing about all sorts of nonsense such as "ousel-cocks" with "orange tawny bills!!"

But what about you guys? Do you have any particular lines that use any sort of weird word? Share it with us in the comments!! (If you want, grab that archaic dictionary or pull up a searchengine and find out it's definition!! Some of them have some very interesting history!!)

3 comments:

  1. I open the play with a weird word. Act I, Scene I, Line I, "Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour..." Nuptial? What's a nuptial?
    Well, according to Dictionary.com, "nuptial" means "of or pertaining to marriage or the marriage ceremony". Make's sense, I suppose. Origin, 1480-90, (Middle French)< Latin "nuptiālis".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Huh!! How fascinating. I begin namecalling Hermia at Act III, Scene II with "Out, tawny tartar, out!!" I'm still trying to figure out what a "tartar" truly is, but I found one definition at thefreedictionary.com which is "also Ta·tar (tätr) A member of any of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples of central Asia who invaded western Asia and eastern Europe in the Middle Ages."

    ReplyDelete
  3. It may be a play on words: "tartar" for "tart" which is a rather unkind name for a woman of loose morals.

    ReplyDelete