Saturday, December 15, 2012

Elizabethan Vocabulary

Greetings,

The subject of vocabulary would seem to be the next logical step in the progression and examination of the English of the Elizabethan period. Here follows the examination of this subject.


Introduction

            The vocabulary of a language determines how flexible and comprehensive the language is. The enhancement of the language through vocabulary is something that the Elizabethans were dedicated to and thus created, borrowed and even re-used words in order to increase their vocabulary. This is a discussion which is necessary in order to understand how the words were formed and where they came from which will describe some of the influences on the language and thus how it developed over time.
            This investigation will start with an overview of the vocabulary discussing the changes in the language and also how the words may differ from our own. The aim of this is to provide a general overview of the approach of Elizabethans to the vocabulary and also make a small comparison to our own laying the foundation for the following subjects. Glossaries discuss different and difficult words the two must be defined so that the difference between the two types of words can be clearly seen and understood, this is once again for the modern reader to understand the Elizabethan’s language. These must also be compared to some of their modern counter-parts for better understanding of the differences in meanings.
            With the introduction for the modern researcher established it is then possible to examine the vocabulary of the Elizabethans and where it came from. The first place is to examine native words and how they came about as the formed the foundation of the vocabulary. These were enhanced by new words created through methods which will be described in some detail for a complete explanation. The investigation of word formation presents the origins of the words and how the vocabulary and the words changed.
            Loan words are those which come from other languages and were inserted into the language, for the most part. Some were created within the language, but these are the ones which were for the most part borrowed to fulfil particular roles. They were not always popular and they did not always survive as will be demonstrated. The introduction of words and the changes in the language also resulted in some changes in meaning of words, this is especially important to understand for the modern reader.
            The vocabulary of the language is what allows the users of the language to express themselves. The words from the vocabulary are the building blocks of the language and determine what people can describe and talk about. This is important for the understanding of the language and the changes in the vocabulary can have a marked change upon the language itself as changes in vocabulary have demonstrated in the modern world.

Vocabulary Overview

            The vocabulary of a language determines what sort of things that the language can express. For the most part the collection of the vocabulary of a language comes from the creation of words or the borrowing of words from other languages. These words are specific, but for the most part not collected in any recognised manner. “Vocabulary is the area of language least subject to generalization. … the learning of vocabulary is largely ad hoc and of indefinite duration.” (Crystal, 2008:146). What this means is that words are plugged into the language as they are required to fulfil a role which the language otherwise could not fill. With the great expanse in knowledge in the Renaissance period, it is of little surprise that the English language was subject to extreme growth.

“the Early Modern English period is marked by an unprecedented lexical growth. It is achieved both by extensive borrowing from other languages and by exploiting native resources by means of word-formation.” (Lass, 1999:332)

            The subjects of borrowing and word-formation are ones which will be discussed in some detail further along in this investigation. The language expanded dramatically, which makes the study of the vocabulary in this period exciting. For the modern reader it is important to realise that while there are words which are very familiar if not the same as the modern words, they were not necessarily used in the same way (Crystal, 2008:98). This is where the idea of different and difficult words emerges in the discussion.

Easy, Different and Difficult

            The first time a modern reader comes upon the language of the Elizabethan period, or indeed any period before their own, it can be a little daunting as the language looks very different. For most people this will happen in high school when they are confronted with Shakespeare. In order to assist the modern reader researchers have compiled glossaries. These glossaries focus on difficult and different words, difficult and different are not the same, some words are unused and others are the same words with different meanings (Crystal, 2008:146).
            In order to be clear about this, classification is required of the words in order to better understand them and see how they are organised. There are some words which are found in the Elizabethan texts which are familiar if not used frequently in modern speech, these are easy words; these are often used in a special context, or are very familiar e.g. oft, perchance, morrow (Crystal, 2008:147). These words sometimes appear in the glossaries but not often.
            It is the difficult and different words which appear in the glossaries the most, and it is useful to know the difference between the two. Difficult words are “words where it is not possible to deduce from their form what they might mean” (Crystal, 2008:152). These are often those which come from different languages or are situational or require previous knowledge, one example of such previous knowledge is classical study (Crystal, 2008:147). Without such previous knowledge it can be very difficult to determine the meaning of the word and this makes them difficult. In general, difficult words are difficult either because it was an Elizabethan usage no longer current or because it would pose a problem to a modern readership despite its continued currency.” (Crystal and Crystal, 2002:viii).
            Different words are often simply different. They have a similar form as the modern word but a different meaning was attached to them in the Elizabethan period. In some cases, some words different due to extra syllable for metre – for the effect of verse and keeping meaning of word (Crystal, 2008:150). This changes the pronunciation of the word and sometimes the spelling, but the same meaning is kept. Further, some words of the period are still used in the modern period but their meaning has changed over time which is different to their original (Crystal and Crystal, 2002:viii), this makes them different.
In the Elizabethan period the language was extremely malleable and the writers of the period used the words which they saw fit at the time. In cases these usages were different to how they would be used in the modern period and this makes them sometimes difficult to understand, simply because they have a different use. Some words were converted from other forms to verbs for example and others simply assembled to suit the situation (Crystal, 2008:148).
With the change in meaning of words the modern researcher and reader needs to be careful about the meaning derived. There are false friends (faux amis) where the modern meaning is different from the period meaning, these are familiar words which actually are not, the context of the word is important for definition (Crystal, 2008:156). The reader, in order to gain the correct understanding of the language needs to approach the language with some care and understanding in order to appreciate and gain a true understanding of the language.
            The meaning of words can and often do change over time. This is a prime example of the reason why the old words taken from the previous language were not as readily accepted as the new words, something discussed further along. There are many examples of this which can be pointed out one example is “politician”. The word politician comes from politic which means to be “shrewd” over time it gradually gained a double-meaning as “crafty” thus the word is left with a two-faced meaning of the word, one describing political office and the other describing the person as a “schemer” (Gooden, 2009:78). In the research of language, especially languages of the past the reader and investigator both need to be careful of this.

Learning the Vocabulary

            In learning the language of the Elizabethan period a person must sit back and have a look at exactly what they are embarking upon. The language of the period and indeed toward the end when Shakespeare was beginning to make his mark was very similar to the modern language; the idea of perspective is important (Crystal, 2008:175).
In order to achieve this correct perspective it is important to take into account the history of the word, even more so for its correct meaning (Crystal, 2008:157). The historical perspective of the language is important as the history which surrounds the language has a huge effect upon the language. This is even more important as the language of the period was not the same for all as it was going through changes.

“When we study Shakespeare’s vocabulary, it is important to recognize that his period off the language – as all other periods – is not linguistically homogeneous.” (Crystal, 2008:159)

            The process of learning the Elizabethan vocabulary and indeed the language as well is the same as learning any foreign language (Crystal, 2008:152). The past is a foreign place and as such needs to be treated as such including the language, and just as with learning a foreign language it needs to be approached with formality and regularity. Limited, spaced learning makes it difficult to build up intuition about “normal” vocabulary of Early Modern English (Crystal, 2008:152). Familiarity with the language and the words makes them easier to understand.
            In the investigation of the words, it is best to discover and investigate words as they are come across, this allows for better comprehension, they are best learnt in contextual situation (Crystal, 2008:153). What this means is that the words should be identified and researched as they are found rather than noted and investigated later on. The context of the word is very important as it gives determination to the meaning of the word. The associations between word assist with their comprehension such as antonyms, hyponymy (inclusion), synonymy, collocation (specific association), semantic fields (Crystal, 2008:154).
            The most frequent case is a difficult word in amongst words which are reasonably familiar; however this is not always the case. Clusters result in variability of comprehension, resulting in patches of difficulty (Crystal, 2008:165). These patches of difficulty can cause issues for the reader in the comprehension of the passage. However the context of the words is important and the further surrounding words can help with comprehension. It is important to read the entirety of speech/passage before worrying about difficulty in part of it (Crystal, 2008:177). The entire passage can give some direction toward the meaning of the individual words. This is a perfect example of the use of context in order to achieve comprehension. In some instances the same word will come up again and again. This can be most useful as it allows for the reading of a word in a different circumstance and thus allowing for a better understanding of the word. Words which are repeated ensure meaning established and demonstrated to be apt usage (Crystal, 2008:168).
            The approach to learning the vocabulary and indeed the language of a different period needs to be approached in the same manner as a foreign language. This needs to be methodical in process and needs to appreciate the origins of the overall text and also the individual words. The context must be used and accounted for as it is often the greatest tool the researcher will have in order to determine the meaning of words.

New Words

            New words are the way in which vocabulary expands and becomes more comprehensive. There are also cases, however in which old words are given new life and new meaning in order to fill a gap. New words are important but also old ones were given new use and meaning in change (Crystal, 2008:164). This allows the vocabulary of the language to expand in new directions. In the case of the Elizabethan vocabulary these new words combined with the old words resulted in a many and varied vocabulary.

“An influx of foreign words and a habit of creating new English words out of foreign elements made the early modern vernacular lexicon a ‘hotch-potch’ of native and alien forms.” (Mugglestone, 2006:212)

            The Elizabethan period is really located at the highest point of this influx of new words and this was only increased by writers such as Shakespeare. The expansion in the vocabulary was massive and while much of the study is focussed upon the introduction of new words, old words and those developed natively cannot be ignored.
            Words in the Elizabethan language were borrowed from other languages it is true but many were also developed at home. Words also formed in English through affixation, compounding and conversion, probably more words by these methods than borrowed (Barber, 2000:182). The formation of words through these methods will be discussed in some detail further along in the discussion. These words were developed in order to meet the challenge of an ever-changing language.
            This method of word formation was actually the dominant way in which words were introduced into the language. It is true that many foreign words were also borrowed an added to the language where native words could not fill the gaps, however this process was not totally accepted by all, based on the transparency of meaning of the native words over the borrowed ones.

“many writers and translators in the sixteenth century were against excessive foreign borrowing and promoted native means of word-formation as the basis for creating new terminology.” (Nevalainen, 2006:59)

            Shakespeare is considered by many as one of the most influential writers of his time, indeed even across the history of the English language. Shakespeare had a talent for using the language at his time in order to express what he needed and thus he was able to manipulate the language as he saw fit. “Like the English language in which he revelled, Shakespeare was a literary magpie,” (McCrum, 2010:76). He would pick and choose words from the language and use them as he felt they would fit into what he was writing at the time. Along with this ability he is credited with the invention of about 2,000 words, he did not necessarily invent them but was the first to record them (Crystal, 2010:42). The influence of Shakespeare is undeniable not only across his own period but also across the language and into the modern period.
The words Shakespeare recorded or invented, it does not really matter, filled holes for words which were not present in the language at the time and some are less obvious than others (Crystal, 2008:161). These new words were not only the work of Shakespeare but also others as well. The fact that about 10% can be credited to him in some form makes him the most prolific.
New meanings were attached to the new words and then they were merely slotted into the existing semantic network (Crystal, 2008:163). In this way the new blended in with the old giving the vocabulary of the language more room to move and the ability to express things it could not before. The coinages themselves reveal patterns of literacy or dramatic interest (Crystal, 2008:171) and thus the ability to follow the development of the language and even how the words themselves were formed as word formation is significant in the understanding of how the vocabulary was formed.

Word Formation

            Word formation is one of the most significant ways in which words are added to a vocabulary. Even in our modern language the process of word formation still introduces new words to the vocabulary, and for the Elizabethans the process was much the same. “Early Modern English is modern as fixed base forms are used in all word-formation processes.” (Nevalainen, 2006:60). This means that there were fixed base forms of words and then additions were made to these words in order to create new words. However for the Elizabethans the strict controls on these formations were relaxed allowing for different words to be created.

“It is often assumed that an established word blocks the derivation from the same base of another word with the same meaning. In Early Modern English this strict economy principle was often relaxed. Synonymous operations were applied to one and the same base quite freely.” (Nevalainen, 2006:60)

            What this means is that words were developed side-by-side with the same base form resulting in the different meaning, or even with a different base resulting in the same meaning. This meant that there were words which meant the same even though the original word was different in its base form. This process allowed for the expansion of the vocabulary at a huge rate, and the process was not restricted to native words.

“In principle, word-formation does not make a basic distinction between loan words and native vocabulary in Early Modern English. Both provide material for compounding, affixation and conversion.” (Nevalainen, 2006:70)

            Compound words are those which are formed by the attachment of one word to another resulting in a new word. This process is referred to as compounding. The compound word becomes a new word in and of itself. “Compound words behave like non-compounds in that they have a form and a meaning of their own.” (Nevalainen, 2006:60). These compound words could be formed of words which have different parts of speech depending on what was required by the writer at the time. Not only were there compound adjectives using a noun and an adjective, but also compound verbs consisting of a particle and a verb often with a variable meaning, either concrete or abstract, depending on the result (Nevalainen, 2006:61). This process is simply taking a word and attaching it to another, a simpler process, used in the language and in the modern is the use of prefixes and suffixes.

 “As new loan words were integrated into Early Modern English, prefixes and suffixes adopted from foreign sources came to be applied to older loan words and ultimately to the native word-stock as well. It took some time before the affixes derived from loan words established themselves. Many of them continued to be associated with borrowed lexis.” (Nevalainen, 2006:61)

            Prefixes and suffixes can alter the meaning of a word and allow the development of new words, especially where multiple additions are used. These additions need not necessarily come from the native language, as indicated above, but can be derived from other languages resulting in words different from their originals.
The process of conversion was one which Shakespeare used quite often it takes place where a words is changed from one part of speech to another, e.g. noun to verb in “lump”, and adjective to verb in “dirty” (Nevalainen, 2006:64). These conversions were a common form of word formation in the Elizabethan period. This is a simple change in the use of the word rather than a change in the word itself, making the process different and in some ways easier than other word formation processes.

New Concepts

            The Renaissance period revived much of the learning which was lost to the western world over the early medieval period. This encouraged learning and investigation into many different fields of endeavour. One thing that had to happen in order for this to be truly achieved was for the language to also catch up with the latest concepts. The solution to this problem was to increase the vocabulary.

“When new concepts need to be named, borrowing and word-formation are not the only solutions – an existing word can also undergo a change of meaning.” (Nevalainen, 2006:65)

            Old words were also used to explain new concepts through a change of meaning in the word. These changes in the words allowed the vocabulary to be expanded to include new concepts. These changes in meaning were widespread and connected not only to scientific advancements but also other aspects of the culture. “Early Modern English semantic changes can often be related to the social and cultural developments of the time.” (Nevalainen, 2006:65). These changes in meaning in the words is one of the reasons why the modern reader may have issues with reading and understanding what an author is discussing as the word written may not have the same meaning now as it did when it was written. In order to achieve understanding the reader needs to appreciate the context and understand what the author is indicating.

“Meaning generalisations also took place with many specialist terms in Early Modern English,” e.g. “humour” being physiological, disposition and modern understanding of amusement dependent on context (Nevalainen, 2006:66)

Loan Words 

“The focus of interest was vocabulary. There were no words in the language to talk accurately about the new concepts, techniques, and inventions which were coming from Europe, and so writers began to borrow them. Most of the words which entered the language at the time were taken from Latin, with a good number from Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.” (Crystal, 2003:60)

            Loan words were used to fill in those gaps where native development could not, or it was felt that the native words did not adequately fill the role required. Much of the foreign words and their introduction was also as a result of the general feeling, especially of the upper classes, that foreign was more refined, expressed in the requirement of travel for education. This feeling of superiority also resulted in a dual purpose for the introduction of new words.

“two different motives for the loans: a utilitarian one (‘necessity’), because the language needs new words to say new things; and ‘mere brauerie’, which means ‘sheer ostentation’.” (Barber, 2000:179)

            The use of a foreign word instead of a native one was thought to demonstrate some sort of education on the part of the user of the word, and there were those who supported this idea. For the most part they were thinking of the increase in the vocabulary of the language rather than for other purposes, but this did not prevent the other from being the case. New words were designed to allow people to express new concepts and ideas and were this required to expand the vocabulary.

“Some writers, such as Thomas Elyot, went out of their way to find new words, in order (as they saw it) to ‘enrich’ the language. They saw their role as enabling the new learning to be brought within the reach of the English public” (Crystal, 2003:60)

            As with the introduction of anything new to an established system, there were those who would resist the changes which were taking place. In some cases it was thought that the language was already robust enough to handle the new ideas and that the new words from other places were not required, “the influx of foreign vocabulary attracted bitter criticism, and people leaped to the language’s defence.” (Crystal, 2003:60). This resistance was small and felt that the invasion of foreign words would damage the language, but as with most things the new would take over the old.

“The increase in foreign borrowings is the most distinctive linguistic sign of the Renaissance in English. Purist opinion did not, in the event, stem the influx of new words – nor has it ever,” (Crystal, 2003:60)

            Latin is one of the root-languages of English and it is of little surprise that in the search for new words to explain concepts Latin would be a source for words to explain these new ideas. But Latin had a more lasting effect than the simple introduction of new words to the language. “Not only did Latin influence bring in new words; it also caused existing words to be reshaped in accordance with their real or supposed Latin etymology.” (Barber, 2000:180). Thus the language was in some cases brought back to its roots and these roots used to influence the new vocabulary and thus the language.
            What is interesting is that many words from Latin already present from earlier (Barber, 2000:178). This is a result of the monastic domination of the language previously and their attachment to Latin through religious teachings and through the Bible, being printed in Latin. However this adoption of Latin into the English language was not universal or with particular emphasis on accuracy, as some words given Latin endings others had endings omitted (Barber, 2000:179). Thus the words were manipulated to suit what was required at the time by the author. The dominance of Latin in loan words is not to say that others were not present, indeed they were and these can even be seen in the present. Latin was the main source of loan-words but certainly not the only one, words borrowed from French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch (Barber, 2000:181).
            An example of the use of two languages resulting in one word is colonel. It is from the French coronelle adopted from Italian colonello – mid-sixteenth century spelled with “r” but Italian spelling and pronunciation challenges it, for a time both were used however the final word has French pronunciation and Italian spelling (Bryson, 2009:113). Thus a single word is affected by two languages simultaneously, one for spelling and the other for pronunciation. This is a prime example of the manipulation of the language in order to suit what was required. Of course this attitude toward the language also led to some problems as well.

“The fundamental problem with neologisms was that, even granting their utility, they remained hard to interpret. … the use of ‘inkhorn’ terms … depended on knowledge of the very language they were designed to translate and supersede.” (Mugglestone, 2006:222)

            “Ink-horn” terms are those which are manipulated by the author to suit what the author required at the time from the language. Often these were so twisted that they defeated their own purpose and actually led to more misunderstanding. The term “ink-horn” comes from the idea of inserting something where it really does not belong, “inkhorn terms” were words added but not needed, used in order to seem more important, often rebelled against (Barber, 2000:180).
These new words were a problem of the language at the time as writers struggled both to express new ideas but also to do so in such a way that their use of the language would attract attention to their skills. As can be expected these new terms people argued strongly against their use, indeed as were the use of words of the old language which were used but had lost their original meaning, ‘inkhorn’ and archaism examples of extremity and departure from accustomed English (Mugglestone, 2006:229).

Old Words

            One of the alternatives, as already indicated above was the use of archaisms, or old words. These words were taken from previous forms of the language in order to fill in some holes present in the language. This was an attempt to solve the problems of the present with information from the past and with native language.

“By the sixteenth century, old words, generally culled from Chaucer and other Middle English writers, were often set forward as native alternatives to foreign borrowings and inkhorn languages as resources for enriching the language.” (Mugglestone, 2006:228)

            While these words were native as compared to the inkhorn and foreign introduction words that were being used and seen as an alternative. However, as has already been expressed old words not universally supported due to being “too distant and removed” for contemporary (Mugglestone, 2006:229). These words had been used previously and can be seen by the modern reader reading from a previous era, the language and meaning changes, thus the old words were seen as less useful and too confusing to be useful by many, especially to express new concepts.

New Words and Survival

            New words were not guaranteed their survival just because they were new. The survival of a word was dependent on its acceptance and therefore its usage. It was not enough to invent a word, but it had to become common in usage. Of course even in such a process there was room for abuse, in much the same way as a child with a new toy. New terms were used to impress, baffle and for exploration of the language, and sometimes all of the above (Gooden, 2009:75). The same can be seen in the modern language with the latest catch phrases, often used by the media.
            The invention of such new words was meant to fill in the gaps in the vocabulary where another word was not present. However, in many cases some words were created even where synonyms already present (Gooden, 2009:76). This was even the case where a new word had been created to fill in a gap in the language and then another is created for the same purpose and to fill the same gap in the language.
The survival and use of words was more instinctive than deliberate and without obvious logic (Gooden, 2009:76). Some words came to exist and be used and thus accepted into the language and others did not and without any real logical reason behind them. It could be attributed to the creator of the word and who used it but details for this are rather thin and thus the reader is left with the same absence of reason. There are many examples of words which did not survive into the modern language, cohabit [restrain], deruncinate [weed], eximious [excellent], illecebrous [delicate], suppeditate [supply], demit [send away] (Crystal, 2003:61), in the terms of the language of the time and a perfect example of the use of one of these words, these words were deruncinated from the language.

Conclusion

The vocabulary of a language determines what sort of things that the language can express. A limited vocabulary limits the things which the language can express and with new concepts being introduced to the Elizabethans, new words had to be found to express these new concepts, thus there was a requirement for the vocabulary to expand. The result of this expansion was that the Elizabethan period saw a huge expansion in the vocabulary of the English language. Understanding this expansion and the vocabulary which resulted is essential to understanding the language.
The first part of the process of examining the vocabulary of Elizabethan English was to examine the words and attempt to isolate them into different types based on the difficulty in comparison to the modern language. This resulted in three types of words, easy, different and difficult. These are very flexible in their determination as to which category a word fits into in some instances. The vocabulary then is learnt like any other language and is a process which needs to be attended to in a systematic manner in order for the reader to gain a real understanding of the language.
In examining the vocabulary, it is the new words which are the most significant as they describe the change in the language in the period. In this process it is useful to examine how the words are formed, both from the original language and also as a result of the introduction of foreign words. Both sets of words need to be looked at as often words from the native language would be combined with those of foreign and vice versa.
The new words were designed to deal with the new concepts which the language in its original form was not ready to deal with or simply did not have the words to do so. In this process there are three roots from which the new words came. The first was as a result of word formation using the language as it was. The second was using words borrowed from foreign languages and the third was using words taken from an older form of the language in order to fill the gaps. Each of the three processes had their successes and failures. Regardless of the objections to a particular process of word formation, or its origin, each had their part to play and each gave the language words in order to express new concepts which were being introduced.
The survival of a new word was not guaranteed and, for the most part, dependent on the acceptance and thus use of the word. This acceptance was of a more instinctive nature rather than based on any particular plan. For the most part it could be claimed that the acceptance of one word over another was based on how the word fitted into the language. These new words were like new toys, bandied about and used by authors and orators alike in order for them to seem more educated. The interesting thing in this process was that words were created where they were not even needed just because they were new.
Regardless of the rhyme or reason for the creation of the words, the result was a richer, though occasionally more difficult language with the ability to express new concepts as they arose. Understanding the vocabulary of a language is part of the struggle in order to understand the language as a whole. The words found in the Elizabethan language are sometimes the same as the modern language but also are sometimes very different and the researcher needs to understand that both types exist and that the language needs to be understood for what it was understand it completely.


Bibliography

Barber, C. (2000) The English Language: A Historical Introduction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

Bryson, B. (2009) Mother Tongue: The Story of the English Language, Penguin Books Ltd, London, UK

Crystal, D. (2003) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (2nd ed), Cambridge University Press, New York, USA

Crystal, D. (2008) ‘Think on my Words’: Exploring Shakespeare’s Language, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

Crystal, D. (2010) Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices, The British Library, London, UK

Crystal, D. and Crystal, B. (2002) Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion, Penguin Books, London, UK

Gooden, P. (2009) The Story of English: How the English Language Conquered the World, Quercus Publishing Plc, London, UK

Lass, R. (ed.)(1999) The Cambridge History of the English Language: Volume III: 1476 – 1776, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK

McCrum, R. (2010) Globish: How the English Language Became the World’s Language, Penguin Group (Australia), Camberwell, Australia

Mugglestone, L. (ed) (2006) The Oxford History of English, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK

Nevalainen, T. (2006) An Introduction to Early Modern English, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, Scotland

Smith, J. (2005) Essentials of Early English, Routledge, New York, USA

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