Nearly four hundred years after his death, the Swan of Avon continues to soar. No author in history has had as much influence. From Steinbeck to Faulkner to Forsyth writers have mined the Complete Works for poetic gold and brought back The Sound and the Fury, The Winter of Our Discontent, and even The Dogs of War. But Shakespeare's influence extends beyond the rarefied air of literary salons. People quote the Bard all the time without realizing it.
"Neologisms," new words, come into the language all the time, usually growing anonymously out of common speech. Poets sometimes create a word to fill a perceived void in expression. In the course of a career an author can feel fortunate to add one or two lasting neologisms to the language. But Shakespeare added hundreds, many of which we use almost daily.
A Wealth of Coinage
In Coined by Shakespeare: Words & Meanings First Penned by the Bard, authors Jeffery Mcquain and Stanley Malless claim that Shakespearean neologisms that have become commonplace terms in our time number approximately 1,500. Although it is impossible to say with absolute certainty that each of these words sprang directly from Shakespeare's teeming imagination, they insist that the first documented incidence of each of these words is found in his works.
Marketable Miss
For instance, in one of his most popular plays, As You like It , Celia jokingly describes herself and her friend Rosalind as "marketable," a word heard in board rooms around the world. Staying on the sales theme, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure uses the word "advertising" in Act V, from the Latin meaning "to turn to," in the sense of "paying attention" or "being attentive." it was in the 18th century , McQuain and Malless point out, that the word took on the commercial meaning, "calling public attention to."
Critic's Creator
Perhaps anticipating theater reviewers, Shakespeare is credited with coining the word "critic," in the sense of "one who passes judgement or offers considered opinion" in the comedy Love's Labor's Lost when Berowne recalls how he used to scorn those ruled by love: "I that have been love's whip, / A critic, nay, a night watch constable (III.i.174, 176).
The authors claim that the Bard coined "green-eyed" and was the first to use it to modify the word "jealousy," in Othello, when lago warns against the "green-eyed monster" jealousy.Other common words credited to Shakespeare's imagination include "assassinate," "gust," and "zany."So if you know those who've never seen the Bard's works because they have a problem with the language, point out that their everyday speech is peppered with Shakespeare's words.
Source: Coined by Shakespeare: Words and Meanings First Used by the Bard by Jeffrey Mcquain and Stanley Malless; Merriam-Webster, Incorporated; Copyright 1998.
Michael Waterson - Michael Waterson is an editor for The American Canyon Eagle newspaper in the Napa Valley. He is a prize-winning poet, an actor, ...
