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The Bard’s Birthday
by Pete Peterson on April 23, 2012 As good luck would have it, the English language was blessed with the birth of William Shakespeare some four hundred and forty-eight years ago today (I’ll spare you the math–that’s 1564). I was talking with Jonathan Rogers a while back and we were discussing the wealth of words Shakespeare had invented. I couldn’t recall many examples at the time, but today’s news of the Bard’s birthday sent me looking.
We’re probably all aware that many phrases used in our every day speech are attributed directly to Shakespeare’s plays, but it’s pretty staggering to note just how many of our words appeared in print for the first time in his work. The total is around 1700 by some counts. He certainly didn’t invent all of them, since some were undoubtedly in use on the streets long before being printed in his plays, but one of his many gifts was using words, not only in new and interesting ways, but often in new and interesting forms. If you’re a word geek like me, this kind of stuff is endlessly fascinating. Here’s a tiny sample:
arch-villain
assassination
bedroom
cold-blooded
dauntless
dawn
enthroned
fashionable
gloomy
impartial
lackluster
majestic
new-fangled
perplex
quarrelsome
radiance
shooting star
time-honored
watchdog
Click here for a more comprehensive list of words and phrases.
On behalf of the English language, thanks, Will. Happy 448th birthday.
A. S. "Pete" Peterson is the author of The Fiddler's Gun and Fiddler's Green. He is also a maker of stinky cheeses, wooden boats, and tasty sandwiches.
9 Comments
397 days ago
Holy buckets, I had no idea! Thanks for sharing, Pete.
397 days ago
As an impartial bedroom watchdog, I find these new-fangled words as gloomily lackluster and perplexing as the assassination of a quarrelsome, cold-blooded arch-villain on the time-honored, but somehow fashionable, shooting-star of majestic radiance enthroned in the dauntless dawn. But that’s just me. (Beat you, Dan Kulp.)
Cheers to the Bard.
397 days ago
It’s my birthday today, too, (as luck would have it) and though I was surprised to find no article about this event here at the Rabbit Room, I do appreciate this one.
And let us not forget the birthdays of Lee Majors and Joyce DeWitt. Such stuff as dreams are made on.
397 days ago
Will, on your 448th, Scotty Smalls, Benny the Jet, Ham, Squints, and Yeah-Yeah roast a mallow in your honor!
“In a pickle” (The Tempest)
397 days ago
Huzzah!
http://greenertrees.net/2012/04/22/ode-to-the-bard-on-his-birthday/
397 days ago
Google “shakespearean insults” if you want a few laughs and inspiration for the next time you need a stinging retort. I know my literature students had a lot of fun with these!
396 days ago
Points for Sam.
396 days ago
I’m such a hipster — I had my birthday the day *before* that Shakespeare guy.
Also, wow — that’s rather a lot of commonly-used words! This fellow should be famous.
395 days ago
Hmm, apparently Shakespeare wasn’t left-handed or the Lefty’s Daily Calendar my dad gave me would have noted the fact and I would have been in-the-know. But since I know now, I have to say that S. D. deserves a prize for best comment, and Julie S, I love your son’s LEGO movies!
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