WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: HIS
INFLUENCE IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
LIDIIA BEDIUKH
BY AND LARGE
• There is no doubt that William Shakespeare had a
great influence not only in theater and films and
other poets and novelists, but also in the English
language, with words that we use every day. Many
may not even know that it was him who invented
or coined these words. Literally there are
thousands of words that Shakespeare invented that
we still use today. Who do you think invented the
words manager, fashionable, eyeball, laughable,
gloomy or lonely, among others?
• William Shakespeare has knowledge of seven
languages and usually made direct quotes in other
languages directly in the plays that he wrote. It is
incredible that he had a vocabulary of 24,000
words, the most for any writer, then and now.
STANDARDIZATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
• The writings of Shakespeare actually influenced the
English language, as his works contributed to standardize
English language rules and grammar in the 17th and 18th
centuries. The words and phrases that he wrote were
embedded in the language especially in “A Dictionary of
the English Language” by Samuel Johnson. The
introduction of new words as well as phrases had greatly
enriched the English language, which made it more
expressive and colorful. Some believe that Shakespeare
was the first to use about 1,700 words – words that be
created by borrowing from other languages, changing
verbs into adjectives or nouns and vice versa, adding
suffixes and prefixes and connecting other words as well
as creating new ones. He had several phrases that are
still very much a part of today’s language and
conversation such as full circle, a sorry sight, strange
bedfellow and seen better days.
INVENTED WORDS
Let us explore some more of the common words the world’s pre-eminent playwright
created.
• Gloomy was formerly a verb that Shakespeare turned into an adjective. He used this
in Titus Andronicus. In Merchant of Venice, he introduced the word laughable.
• Majestic was from the word “majesty” that first used in the 1300s, while
“majestical” was used initially around the 1570s. Shakespeare used the word majestic
in The Tempest.
• In the 1400s, the word “alone” was shortened to lone. From this word, he created the
word lonely which he used in the early 17th century tragedy, Coriolanus.
• He introduced the term “radiance” in King Lear, which originated from
“radiantem,” the Latin word for beaming.
• Hurry was a word that is found in Henry VI Part I
INVENTED WORDS
• Honest, worthy, proper and useful are the terms associated with “frugi” the Latin
word that became frugal, which was used in a passage in Much Ado About
Nothing.
• In the 1570s, the phrase “to court” means to woo. From this word Shakespeare
created the word courtship which he used in The Merchant of Venice.
• In Love’s Labour’s Lost, he introduced the word zany, derived from the Latin term
“zani” that came for “Zanni,” a derivative of the Italian name, Giovanni. It means
idiosyncratic and amusingly unconventional.
• In his comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare used the word undress
while rant was first seen in Hamlet. It came from the Dutch term “randten” that
means talking foolishly.
• While generous, which came from the Latin word generosus or “of noble birth”
was first used in Hamlet too.
HERE ARE SOME MORE WORDS FIRST USED IN HIS WRITINGS:
• Eyeball, moonbeam (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) • Fashionable (Troilus and Cressida)
Puking (As You Like It) Inaudible (All’s Well That Ends Well)
Ladybird, uncomfortable (Romeo and
Obscene, new-fangled (Love’s Labour’s Lost)
Juliet)
Cold-blooded , savagery (King John) Manager, mimic (A Midsummer Night’s
Hot blooded, epileptic (King Lear) Dream)
Addiction (Othello) Pageantry (Pericles)
Arch-villain (Timon of Athens) Scuffle (Antony and Cleopatra)
Assassination , unreal Macbeth Bloodstained (Titus Andronicus)
Negotiate (Much Ado About Nothing)
Bedazzled, pedant (The Taming of the Shrew)
Outbreak (Hamlet)
Belongings (Measure for Measure) Jaded, torture (King Henry VI)
Dishearten, swagger, dawn (Henry V) Grovel (Henry IV)
Eventful, marketable (As You Like It) Gnarled (Measure for Measure)
Some of the words may not have been actually invented or coined by
Shakespeare but the early citations in the Oxford English Dictionary have
been attributed to him because the first recorded used of the word was
found in one of his works.
