Latinisms in Shakespeare, Metathesis, & Latin Words and Phrases in English

1. Latinisms in Shakespeare, Metathesis, & Latin Words and Phrases in English Concepts from Lessons XXIII-XXV

2. Shakespeare and his Word Use

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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

6. 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)

7. 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.

8. 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)

9. 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.

10. Metathesis in Word Histories

11. 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 hoc, per se, per diem, de facto, vice versa. • Some of these words are nouns which carry Latin singular and plural inflections.

12. Noun Sense • The proper plural form of many Latin nouns is a subject of controversy. • Do the following nouns even have a plural form? • data (Her data was interesting.) • media (The media gives only one side.) • Lesson 25, II (p. 138)

13. Noun Sense • Sometimes the ‘proper’ form seems silly: • alumna • index • focus • stadium • genus • octopus • appendix • Sometimes the word looks like an abbreviation but isn’t:sic, qua, pro, via

14. Latin Phrases • Sometimes the abbreviation of a phrase is more familiar that the phrase itself. • What do the following abbreviations mean? • e.g. • i.e. • cf. • A.D. • AM • NB • et al. • etc. • ca.

15. Latin Phrases • What do the following phrases mean? • in camera • habeas corpus • de facto • ad hominem • ex officio • ex post facto • per capita • per diem • per se

16. Latin Phrases • What do the following phrases mean? • persona non grata • sine qua non • quid pro quo • prima facie • a fortiori • status quo • reductio ad absurdum • ad hoc • pro tem

17. Latin Abbreviations in Medicine • Medical jargon contains many Latin (and other) abbreviations

18. New Bases • No New Suffixes since Lesson XXI! • Lesson XXIII: • CORD • FLECT, FLEX • MAN(U) • PORT • STRU, STRUCT • TERMIN • VINC, VICT

19. New Bases • Lesson XXIV: • AUD • CARN • NUNCI (NOUNCE) • PRESS • PROPRI • SAT(IS) • No new forms in Lesson XXV!

20. 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 Lessons 11-25. • The concepts introduced in lecture from February 18th to April 3rd.

21. Test II • The format of Test II will be the same as that of Test I: • It will be worth 30 points total. • Part I will consist of 6 short-answer questions, worth 2 points each. • Part II will consist of 6 word-analysis questions, worth 3 points each. • In each part you will choose 6 out of 10 questions to answer.

22. Concept Review • Semantic relations • Ambiguity • Vagueness • Polysemy • Word relations • Antonymy (graded vs. nongraded) • Homonymy • The role of metaphor in polysemy

23. Concept Review • Categories and semantic change • Narrowing • Broadening • The change from concrete to abstract • Metaphor • Metonymy • Functional (grammatical category) change • Hyperbole • Euphemism

24. Concept Review • The loss of a word’s frame of reference • Shakespeare’s use of Latin • Metathesis • Back formation • Folk etymology • The use of Latin words and expressions in English • Usage criticism