Shakespeare’s Words

Some of Shakespeare’s common words have changed their meaning a bit over the 400+ years and some had more power then than they may have now. Here is the start of a list of words with new or different meanings in today’s world. More suggestions are welcome!

Words with changed meanings

AN	If, (not ‘and’); also: an if.
BRAVE, bravely	Its modern meaning but also fine, beautiful, handsome, well-dressed, well done! Courage!
BUT	Has its modern meaning, as, ‘Nay but it is not so’ and can also be a time word or mean ‘except’ or ‘that’ or ‘only.’ It is very fluid. ‘Not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver.’ ‘Begin these wood birds but to couple now?’
BY’RELADY	By Our Lady. Mary. A weak oath or exclamation.
CHARGE	I charge thee; my charge a strong request or command; a duty which must be done.
	Actors: use the power of this charge.
CONCEIT, conceited	Imagination, NOT showing off! So it is a compliment: well-conceited
CONJURE	I conjure you
COUNTERFEIT	Pretending to be someone else, or cheating by lying; also used about acting.
DEARTH	Famine, also used as an image. There was series of bad harvests in 1594-7 leading to many deaths from starvation. (See Edgar’s description of beggars in King Lear.)
FIE	Usually an exclamation of disapproval or disgust: ‘Fie upon’t.’
FOND	Loving, overly affectionate to a foolish degree. So, in some cases, misled through loving. Can be used as a verb. ‘I fond too much’.
GRACE	Always means divine grace, blessings, God’s special gift of spiritual power. Remember how powerful this word is.
HAPLY, HAP	Perhaps, not ‘cheerful’, as nowadays. ‘Good hap!’ =   good luck. (as in ‘Happening, happens’) ‘When haply he shall hear that she is gone, he will return.’
	Actors: this word has 2 syllables only, do not say ‘happily.’
HOW	Its modern meaning but also as an exclamation, when we would say ‘what!’ or ‘what?’ in Shakespeare: ‘how say you?’ ‘How then!’
I’FAITH, in faith, faith	An oath which can be used rather weakly or can be very strong. It means that I swear by my Christian faith, but is often used like ‘really’ or ‘truly,’ as an exclamation.
JEALOUS	Has its present meaning (as Othello’s jealousy) but can also mean ‘suspicious.’  ‘But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry on what I further do intend to do…’ ‘That you do love me I am nothing jealous.’
KIND	Related to ‘kin’/family. Kind, therefore means more than being nice to someone; it is the connection of all human beings to each other as the family of mankind. See how Hamlet uses it bitterly: ‘A little less than kin and more than kind’
LIME, liming	This is a trick to catch wild birds by putting sticky lime onto twigs so that the birds’ feet get caught and they can’t fly away. ‘O limed soul that struggles to be free.’
LO	Look
MARRY	By Mary, a weak oath or exclamation.
MEAT	Food, generally… Not just bits of animals to eat.
NAUGHTY	Wicked/bad/sinful. This is a strong word that has now lost most of its power. (though Cressida uses it teasingly to her uncle.)
OR… OR	Either… or, but he uses the repeated ‘or’ at times.
PASSING	Very: passing well = very good.
PRI’THEE	I pray you; pray tell me….
SILLY	Innocent/ignorant. It doesn’t mean stupid, just that the person is not well educated.
SIRRAH	‘little sir,’ an informal calling word, used for a servant, waiter, or someone of lower status. A woman in a similar situation might be called WENCH.
WANT	Lack…. This is an important change of meaning; now we use ‘want’ meaning ‘wish’ but for Shakespeare ‘want’ as a noun or a verb means ‘not having’, lacking, doing without something. ‘Thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge and manners.’
WARRANT	A guarantee. ‘I warrant…’   I confirm that this will happen, that this is true. It can be a legal order, piece of paper, commanding/confirming an action, as the warrant that Richard of Gloucester gives to the murderers of his brother; which, they say, absolves them of any sin in killing Clarence in the Tower.
WELL	Its modern meanings of health and success (well done!) And as ‘OK, fine!’
	Actors, be careful not to use ‘well’ as a rather doubting or hesitating sound. In Shakespeare it is a strong sound of agreement, usually completing a decision, with a positive closing inflection.
WHY	Its present meaning as a question. Also an exclamation which is not a question, often the beginning of a remark, as we might say ‘well’ now. ‘Why, how now?’ Or used for calling someone, usually informally, as to a servant who is slow responding: ‘Why, Jessica, I say, why, Jessica!’
WIT	Intelligence, not just a trick of making clever remarks.
WOT	Know; it is an old Saxon word, often used. ‘I wot not.’ ‘God wot!’
YET	A time word…. Are you yet here?
YOKE	A heavy wooden harness laid over the back of two or more animals such as horses or oxen, to pull a plough. Also a similar yoke placed over the shoulders of a milkmaid, leaving her hands free to carry a full pail in each hand, balanced on the yoke. As a verb: ‘to yoke,’ to join, can be used to describe a marriage, where two people are joined together. A yoke can be seen as a heavy burden: a task, a problem that weighs on the person, probably something they would like to free themselves from.

 

Condensed words and contractions

Actors: speak these condensed words as if they were the entire word, just quickly.
E’en	Even.
Eke	Add, added to.
Ere	Before: ‘he was there ere I came.’ A time word.
I’	In
Ne’er	Never.
O’er	Over.
Wi’	With.

‘A and The Great Vowel Shift

‘A = he.

This is an important vowel change!  Over a period of 3-400 years the pronunciation of some basic vowels in English changed. This is called ‘The Great Vowel Shift’ which occurred in the Middle English period, 1100-1500; the sound represented by the letter ‘a’, as in ‘cat’, changed very gradually to the sound of the letter ‘e’ as in ‘tea.’ (The tongue moving upwards in the mouth.) While the written letter did not change, by Shakespeare’s time the ‘a’ would be sounded as a modern ‘e’, so we need to think of the word ‘a’ in Shakespeare as ‘he’ with the H missing. Characters who use this sound can be working people with a regional accent but also people of high rank talking among themselves.

Here are Falstaff’s friends talking about his death, HENRY V.11 3:

NYM; they say he cried out of sack.

HOSTESS: Ay, that ‘a did.

BARDOLPH: and of women.

HOSTESS: nay, that ‘a did not.

BOY; yes, that ‘a did.

I suggest that you replace that ‘a’ with an unaspirated ‘he’; as Nym does, above!

The interesting thing is that, even now, aristocratic and royal people, who stay within their ‘caste’ group and do not mix with the general public, have kept that old vowel, the sound ‘e’ for the written vowel ’a.’ So if you say ‘Jack has a black hat’ in a super posh voice it will sound like ‘Jeck hes a bleck het.’ Our royal family had this pronunciation within living memory, but now they are adapting their voices to sound more ‘normal’; however, you can still hear these strangled vowels in some upper class voices; those class accents are still powerfully divisive signals in Britain!

 

LET ME KNOW OF ANY OTHER WORDS THAT YOU WANT TO CLARIFY!

 

For more articles on Shakespeare, his times, and his work, please visit here.