ALACK, A LIST

Getting to know Shakespeare’s high-frequency archaic sight words

GUESS THE MEANING OF:

Good-bye, farewell

Soon, immediately

Listen

Never

To seek and gain (seduce)

Adieu

Anon

Hark

Ne’er

Woo

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Alas, then she is drowned!”

Alas: Expresses sorrow

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”

Wherefore: Why

Art: Are

Thou: You

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Well, sir, I’ll bring you to our master Lear, and leave you to attend him.”

Attend: to wait upon; to pay attention

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”

“O, coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!”

Dost, doth: Do, does

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“List, list, o list! If ever thou didst thy old father love—revenge his foul and most unnatural murder!”

List: Listen

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Fie on’t! Ah, fie! ’Tis an unweeded garden that grows to seed.”

Fie: A curse

’Tis: It is

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Perchance she weeps because they killed her husband, perchance because she knows them innocent.”

Perchance: Maybe

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat.”

Prithee: I pray thee; please

Thy: Your

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Resolve me, with all modest haste.”

Resolve: To answer; to reply

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Peace, sirrah! You beastly knave, know you no reverence?”

Sirrah: A lowly person

Knave: A villain

BONUS!!! MODERNIZE THIS SENTENCE

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.”

Troth: Belief

WORDS IN CONTEXT

“Now, by the world, it is a lusty wench. O, how I long to have some chat with her!”

Wench: A female person; varies in tone from tenderness to contempt

BONUS!:WEIRD OLD INSULTS

Dotard• Old fool

Maltworm• Heavy drinker

Flirt-gill• Loose woman