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MODERN ENGLISH:
1500-2000 = 500 years
William SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616)
Compiled by Dr. ALEC GILL MBE
NEOLOGISMS - New Words:
An immense number of new words are first recorded in Shakespeare's plays and
sonnets. Apparently, he used a total of 17,677 different words in his writing and 10% had
never been recorded in written form before. Every tenth word was brand new! He
is credited with some 2000 neologisms.
SINGLE WORDS:
aerial /
aggravate /
brittle /
bump /
castigate /
countless /
cranny /
critical /
dwindle /
eventful /
excellent /
fitful /
fragrant /
frugal /
gnarled /
gust /
hint /
homicide /
hurry /
lonely /
majestic /
monumental /
obscene /
pedant /
radiance /
submerge /
summit.
COMPOUND WORDS:
bare-faced /
blood-stained /
cloud-capped (towers) /
fancy-free /
fore-father /
ill-starred /
heaven-kissing (hill) /
lacklustre (eye) /
leap-frog /
snow-white.
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NOTE: As with Chaucer, not one single Shakespearean script survives. But thank goodness
two faithful actor friends - John Hemming and Henry Condell - assembled an anthology of
Shakespeare's work in the famous First Folio in 1623 - not too long after his death.
A BBC Radio 4 commentator once explained the reason why Shakespeare's plays and
writings were not cherished during his own lifetime: he did not attend Oxford or
Cambridge, he was just an ordinary lad from the countryside, and not a worthy
scholar.
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