Latinisms in Shakespeare, Metathesis, & Latin Words and

Phrases in English

Concepts from Lessons XXIII-XXVConcepts from Lessons XXIII-XXV

Shakespeare and his Word Use

Life of Shakespeare• Lived 1564-1616 • Most likely attended the

King’s New School, Stratford-upon-Avon• Tudor curriculum limited to Latin, Greek,

math• Shakespeare used a state-mandated Latin

grammar, Lily’s A Short Introduction of Grammar (1540)

Life of Shakespeare• Shakespeare makes reference to both the Lily grammar and his

Latin teacher, Thomas Jenkins, in Merry Wives of Windsor:

Sir Thomas Evans: What is 'lapis', William? William Page: A stone. Evans: And what is 'a stone', William? William: A pebble. Evans: No, it is 'lapis'... William: 'Lapis'. Evans: That is a good William. What is he, William, that does lend articles? William: Articles are borrowed of the pronoun, and be thus declined, Singulariter,

nominativo, hic, haec, hoc... Evans: What is your genitive case plural, William ? William: Genitive case? Evans: Ay. William: Genitive,- horum, harum, horum.(Act 4, Scene 1)

Life of Shakespeare• Member of The King’s Men, which owned

its own theater, the Globe Theater• Wrote 36 plays, 154 sonnets, 2 narrative

poems• Drew on Latin sources: Julius Caesar, Titus

Andronicus, Coriolanus, Antony & Cleopatra

• Influenced by the works of Plautus (d. 184 BC), e.g., Comedy of Errors

Shakespeare’s Use of Latin

• Classes at the King’s New School were conducted exclusively in Latin.

• Given this background, Shakespeare naturally used Latinate words with deference to their original meanings.

• Thou, sapient sir, sit here. —Lear to the Fool, King Lear (Act II, Scene 6)

Shakespeare’s Latinate Vocabulary

• My powers are crescent.• That they have overborne their continents.• The fortitude of the place is best known to you.• Whose white investments figure innocence.• …and of the truth herein this present object made

probation. • As knots…infect the sound pine and divert his

grain tortive and errant from his course of growth.

Shakespeare’s Latinate Vocabulary

• Abate the edge of traitors…that would reduce these bloody days again.

• Cadent tears fret channels in her cheeks.• The presence of the king disanimates his enemies. • What to this was sequent Thou know’st already.• Tying her duty, beauty, wit and fortunes in an

extravagant and wheeling stranger of here and every where.

• Exercise I Lesson 24 (pp. 133-134)

Metathesis (Lesson XXIV)

• Definition. Transposition of two sounds in a word (as in the development of crud from curd or the pronunciation \'pur-tE\ for pretty).

• English examples: ask [aks], spaghetti [basketti], foliage [foilage], mischeivous [mischevious], breakfast [breakstif], Sly [Sylvester]

• Distinct from Spoonerism: Let me sew you to your sheet, our queer old dean.

Metathesis in Word Histories

ORIGINAL WORD WORD FORM AFTER METATHESIS

OE thridda third

OE hros (preserved in walrus) horse

OE hweol (collar, dwell) wheel

Latin miraculum Spanish milagro

Latin TURB trouble < Old French troubler

Latin TORS (‘twist’) truss

Latin cribellum ‘sieve’ English garble

Latin gluto, glutio ‘glutton, swallow’ Latin gula ‘throat’

Latin folium English foil

Latin Words and Phrases in English (Lesson XXV)• Some words and phrases have entered Latin

while retaining their original forms. • Some of these words are found in fixed

phrases, e.g., ad hocad hoc,, per se per se,, per diem per diem,, de de factofacto,, vice versa vice versa.

• Some of these words are nouns which carry Latin singular and plural inflections.

Noun Sense

• The proper plural form of many Latin nouns is a subject of controversy.

• Do the following nouns even have a plural form?

• datadata (Her data was interesting.)

• mediamedia (The media gives only one side.)

• Lesson 25, II (p. 138)

Noun Sense

• Sometimes the ‘proper’ form seems silly:– alumnaalumna– indexindex– focusfocus– stadiumstadium– genusgenus– octopusoctopus– appendixappendix

• Sometimes the word looks like an abbreviation but isn’t: sic, qua, pro, viasic, qua, pro, via

Latin Phrases

• Sometimes the abbreviation of a phrase is more familiar that the phrase itself.

• What do the following abbreviations mean?– e.g. e.g. – i.e.i.e.– cf.cf.– A.D.A.D.– AMAM– NBNB– et al.et al.– etc.etc.– ca.ca.

Latin Phrases• What do the following phrases mean?

– in camerain camera– habeas corpushabeas corpus– de factode facto– ad hominemad hominem– ex officioex officio– ex post factoex post facto– per capitaper capita– per diemper diem– per seper se

Latin Phrases

• What do the following phrases mean?– persona non gratapersona non grata

– sine qua nonsine qua non

– quid pro quoquid pro quo

– prima facieprima facie

– a fortioria fortiori

– status quostatus quo

– reductio ad absurdumreductio ad absurdum

– ad hocad hoc

– pro tempro tem

Latin Abbreviations in Medicine

• Medical jargon contains many Latin (and other) abbreviations

New Bases

• No New Suffixes since Lesson XXI!• Lesson XXIII:

– CORDCORD

– FLECT, FLEXFLECT, FLEX

– MAN(U)MAN(U)

– PORT PORT

– STRU, STRUCTSTRU, STRUCT

– TERMINTERMIN

– VINC, VICTVINC, VICT

New Bases

• Lesson XXIV:• AUDAUD• CARNCARN• NUNCI (NOUNCE)NUNCI (NOUNCE)• PRESSPRESS• PROPRIPROPRI• SAT(IS)SAT(IS)

• No new forms in Lesson XXV!

Test II

• Test II will take place on Tuesday, April 8.

• Test II will cover all Latin forms and concepts introduced since Test I:– The Latin prefixes, bases and suffixes in The Latin prefixes, bases and suffixes in

Lessons 11-25. Lessons 11-25. – The concepts introduced in lecture from The concepts introduced in lecture from

February 18th to April 3rd. February 18th to April 3rd.

Test II

• The format of Test II will be the same as that of Test I: The format of Test II will be the same as that of Test I:

– It will be worth 30 points total.It will be worth 30 points total.– Part I will consist of 6 short-answer questions, worth 2 Part I will consist of 6 short-answer questions, worth 2

points each.points each.– Part II will consist of 6 word-analysis questions, worth Part II will consist of 6 word-analysis questions, worth

3 points each.3 points each.– In each part you will choose 6 out of 10 questions to In each part you will choose 6 out of 10 questions to

answer.answer.

Concept Review

• Semantic relationsSemantic relations–AmbiguityAmbiguity–VaguenessVagueness–PolysemyPolysemy

• Word relationsWord relations–Antonymy (graded vs. nongraded)Antonymy (graded vs. nongraded)–HomonymyHomonymy

• The role of metaphor in polysemyThe role of metaphor in polysemy

Concept Review

• Categories and semantic changeCategories and semantic change–NarrowingNarrowing–BroadeningBroadening

• The change from concrete to abstractThe change from concrete to abstract–MetaphorMetaphor–MetonymyMetonymy

• Functional (grammatical category) changeFunctional (grammatical category) change• HyperboleHyperbole• EuphemismEuphemism

Concept Review

• The loss of a word’s frame of referenceThe loss of a word’s frame of reference• Shakespeare’s use of LatinShakespeare’s use of Latin• MetathesisMetathesis• Back formationBack formation• Folk etymologyFolk etymology• The use of Latin words and expressions in EnglishThe use of Latin words and expressions in English• Usage criticismUsage criticism