Our journey back through time takes us to the 16th century. Some names stand out in the history of English writing. Perhaps the most famous is William Shakespeare (1564–1616). He wrote 41 plays which have, in total, about 1,200 characters. He also wrote poems, including 154 sonnets.
He used and coined many phrases and sayings which are still quoted 400 years later. Here are 40 of them, in their original form of wording. Some of them are spoken or written with slightly different wording nowadays.
My friends were poor but honest (All’s Well that Ends Well).
My salad days, when I was green in judgement (Anthony and Cleopatra).
Sweet are the uses of adversity (As You Like It)
All the world’s a stage. ditto
Thereby hangs a tale. ditto
A countenance more in sorrow than in anger (Hamlet).
And to the manner born. ditto
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. ditto
Murder most foul. ditto
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. ditto
Brevity is the soul of wit. ditto
Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t. ditto
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil. ditto
The lady doth protest too much, methinks. ditto
I must be cruel only to be kind. ditto
Why then, the world’s mine oyster (The Merry Wives of Windsor).
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve (Othello).
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; / It is the green-eyed monster... ditto
...The milk of human kindness (Macbeth)
...At one fell swoop. ditto
I bear a charmed life. ditto
Lawn as white as driven snow (The Winter’s Tale). [Lawn = linen.]
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now (Julius Caesar).
This was the most unkindest cut of all. ditto
I am a man more sinned against than sinning. (King Lear).
The wheel is come full circle. ditto
It is a wise father than knows his own child (The Merchant of Venice).
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see. ditto
The quality of mercy is not strained... ditto
A pair of star-crossed lovers (Romeo and Juliet).
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet. ditto
Parting is such sweet sorrow. ditto
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows (The Tempest).
O brave new world. ditto
If music be the food of love, play on (Twelfth Night).
A man can die but once (King Henry IV, Part II).
Comparisons are odious (Much Ado About Nothing).
Men of few words are the best men (King Henry V).
Crabbed age and youth cannot live together (The Passionate Pilgrim)
Here is a passage from ‘The Tempest’ Act 4, Scene 1. This extract starts on about line 148, depending on which edition you are using. This version is close to the way it appeared in the first authorised edition of the plays in 1623. Compare it to the way it appears in a modern version.
(The font I used in this extract is called 17th Century Record Font. The address where you can order it is in the links on the first page of my main website, The Brain Rummager.)
The language used by Shakespeare is early Modern English. Yes, even though it is 400 years old, it is modern! It is much easier to read than the Middle English used by writers such as Chaucer. And unless you are an expert, it is almost impossible to read Old English.
You noticed some unusual spellings in these lines in early Modern English:
|
Shakespeare’s English 1623 |
Modern English 2005 |
|
reuels ayre fabricke clowd capt towre pallace solemne it selfe dissolue insubstantiall racke behinde stuffe dreame sleepe |
revels air fabric cloud capp’d = capped tower palace solemn itself dissolve insubstantial rack behind stuff dream sleep
|
It’s easy to work out that dreame is dream and pallace is palace. But there are some other spellings which are not as clear.
The word revel appears as reuel. The same thing happens in dissolue. This is because the letter v could be pronounced two different ways, u or v, until about the 16th and 17th century. You can still see this in the name we have for the letter w. Say it aloud: ‘double u’. We don’t say ‘double v’! In fact, the letter was originally printed vv and VV, not w and W.
Tower was towre. Spellings changed gradually over the centuries. This word was torr in Old English, and was tour for a while after that. Another word which changed in this way is shower. It was scur in Old English, and in Middle English it became shoure.
As far as you can, trace the etymology of the following words. The etymology of an English word tells which language the word came from. It might have come from one other language, or it might have come via more than one language. Make a note of the different forms of the word in those earlier languages and which languages they were. If your dictionary gives dates or centuries, make a note of those, too.
q bake
q cake
q drake, meaning a male duck
q drake, meaning a dragon
q lake, meaning an area of water
q make
q quake
q wake, to rise from sleep
q wake, the waves left by a boat moving through water
You might find some surprises!
When you have finished your research, then... you can scroll down for answers and notes. Or you might like to click on of these...
Go to 3 The Middle English of Chaucer
Ø Five of these words have been in English since the days of Old English, which means up to 1,500 years. Old English is the form of English used from about the 5th century until about the 11th century.
Ø Three of the words did not arrive in English until the 13th century.
Ø One word did not appear until as late as the 16th century.
Ø Two pairs of words which look the same and sound the same have entirely different origins. One meaning goes back to Old English while the other is more recent.
Some of the spellings below might be slightly different from those you found.
bake
Old English bacan related to Old Norse baka, Old High German bahhan all meaning to bake. Also Greek phōgein to parch, to roast. It first appeared in writing around the year 893.
cake
13th century from Old Norse kaka related to Danish kage, German kuchen. It has probably been in use since about 1220.
drake, meaning a male duck
13th century, perhaps from Low German. Compare it to Middle Dutch andrake and Old High German antrahho.
drake, meaning a dragon
Old English draca from Latin draco, dragon.
lake, meaning an area of water surrounded by land
13th century lac via Old French from Latin lacus, basin. Earlier there was also an Old English word, lacu, meaning stream or pond
make
Old English macian, related to Old Frisian makia, to construct, Dutch maken, German machen, to make.
quake
Old English cwacian, related to Old English cweccan, to shake, Old Irish bocaim, German wackeln.
wake, to rise from sleep
Old English wacian, related to Old Frisian wakia, Old High German wahten.
wake, the waves left by a boat moving through water
16th century of Scandinavian origin. Compare with Old Norse vaka, vok, a hole cut in ice; perhaps related to Old Norse vokra, Middle Dutch wak, wet.
If you are not sure of the meaning of terms such as Frisian, Old High German and Old Norse, please look them up. They are important for your exploration of the history of English!