When many of us think of Shakespeare, we often think of long complicated texts that bear little significance to our everyday lives. We associate Shakespeare with a form of English that is hard to read and to understand. Some of are brought back to shudder inducing English classes in high school where we were forced to analyze the complicated soliloquies of Hamlet or Macbeth. But Shakespeare should not only be associated with these outdated ideas and language. Many of the words we use today were first seen in the writings of Shakespeare. These words are so common we may not even be aware of their Shakespearean origin.
Shakespeare was an extremely creative thinker. This creativity allowed him to take advantage of the rules of the English language to create new words that better suited the meaning he was trying to convey in his writing.
One was in which Shakespeare created new words was through the addition of affixes to previously existing words. He often added prefixes that negated the original word, therefore changing its meaning. This allowed Shakespeare to write more concisely seeing as he could use a single word instead of a negating word (like not) in addition to the original word. Two such examples (resulting from the addition of derivational prefixes) are the words inaudible and uncomfortable as seen in the text below.
“Let's take the instant by the forward top; for we are old, and on our quick'st decrees the inaudible and noiseless foot of Time steals ere we can effect them.” - King of France (All's well that ends well. Act V. Scene III)
“Despised, distressed, hated, martyr'd, kill'd! Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now to murder, murder our solemnity?” - Capulet (Romeo and Juliet. Act IV. Scene V)
Shakespeare also frequently created blend words to express a more specific meaning. He did this by combining two previously separate words into one continuous word. One such example is the word cold-blooded, which he used to describe a character who was vindictive and heartless. Another example is when he used the more specific word eyeball instead of the preexisting word eye. His first usages of both words can be seen in the text below.
“Thou cold-blooded slave, hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side, been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength, and dost thou now fall over to my fores?” – Constance (King John. Act III. Scene I)
“Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject to no sight but thine and mine, invisible to every eyeball else.” – Prospero (The tempest. Act I. Scene II)
The next time you use any of these words think of Shakespeare and maybe cut him some slack for being a master manipulator of English grammar and not just the reason you dreaded English class.
References
Mentalfloss.com. 2016. "20 Words We Owe to William Shakespeare." Retrieved from http://mentalfloss.com/article/48657/20-words-we-owe-william-shakespeare (accessed October 11, 2016)
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