This relates to our Reading of the sonnets from January. In reading the sonnets I did not realize how much Shakespeare had written. I mean I did not know that some of the famous phrase and poems and words can be attributed to him. I knew that he had created over 10,000 words but the consequence had not and I guess still hasn't sunk in.
So I decided to research this and come up with a list. I could not find a collective list and I am not going to take the time to compile one at this time in my life! There is a Shakespeare dictionary on campus for those of you who want to have fun looking through his words. If you type in words Shakespeare invented you can find several sites that will educate you as well.
For this post I am going to include a few of my favorite words that he invented and a few other tidbits of knowledge.
Words
- Clangor – this is like clang only they added the –or and I find this am improvement on the word.
- Obscene – I personally find this ironic and hilarious (in other words he would need this word).
Random Facts
- Here is a really cool site with a work sheet on Shakespeare’s words. I have not done it yet but I am really excited to give it a try! http://www.bookhooks.com/resources/avocabo13.pdf
- The longest word he ever used was honorificabilitudinitatibus in Love’s Labour’s Lost. This word is the plural of the Medieval Latin word honourificabilitudinitas which means the sate of being able to achieve honors. (Google is amazing!)
- He is the most quoted man in the English language
- Only the Kings James bible has been printed in more languages.
Phrases
- Break the ice
- The clothes make the man
- Catch a old
- Elbowroom (I think he was a lefty and this was something that he had more awareness of than a righty, but this is solely based on the fact that I am a lefty).
- Fair play
- Give the devil his due
- Heart of gold
- Method in his madness
- Too much of a good thing
- Long-haired
- Leapfrog ( I choose to believe this is because he played the game, I know I am delusional, and I am okay with it!)
- Lackluster
- Wear’s ones heart on one’s sleeve
At the Shakespearean festival they gave us the following sentence and I think it is really cool. The only parts of the quote that aren’t Shakespeare are the parts that say “you are quoting Shakespeare.
"If you cannot understand my argument and declare it’s all Greek to me, you are quoting Shakespeare; If you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; If you recall your salad days you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength hoodwinked or in a pickle; if you have knitted you brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not a wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance on your lord and aster, laughed yourself into stitches , had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool’s paradise –why be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you clear out, bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that is the long and short of it, if you believe the game is up and that truth will out, even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low until the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then-to give the devil his due – if truth were known (or surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare, Even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a doornail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-mined or a blinking idiot, then – By Jove! O all one to me, you are quoting Shakespeare.”
