Master of wordplay
From Facebook terms to emotions: 10 words invented by Shakespeare
Published on September 26, 2024
Image: Taha
It’s not always possible to attribute the origin of a precise word to a particular person. However, it is believed that William Shakespeare contributed more than 1,700 terms and expressions to the English language, many of which we still use today. The way Shakespeare invented, reused, and modified words is a living testament to his creativity and innovation. In this article, we have handpicked 10 words and phrases that you probably didn’t know were coined by the genius English poet and playwright. And the next time you use them, remember that you are following in the footsteps of a true linguistic legend!
Lonely
Image: William Shakespeare, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Loneliness is a sentiment we can all relate to. Who hasn't felt lonely at some point? Feeling sad about being apart from others is universal. But the interesting thing is that this word, which we use frequently in the English language, was first introduced in a play by William Shakespeare.
Written between 1605 and 1608, Coriolanus is a tragedy set in the earliest days of the Roman Republic. In the first scene of Act 4, General Coriolanus, speaks to his mother Volumnia, who tries to convince him not to attack Rome, and says: "Believe 't not lightly-though I go alone, / Like to a lonely dragon that his fen."
Good Riddance
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Thanks to William Shakespeare, we have a polite and decent idiom to express we are happy and relieved to see someone leave without resorting to insults and rudeness. What a treat! Although riddance is practically an obsolete term in modern English, the expression "good riddance" has stood the test of time.
Shakespeare first used it in The Merchant of Venice when Portia says to the Prince of Morocco: "A gentle riddance! Draw the curtains, go, / Let all of his complexion choose me so." In this case, the phrase didn’t have the ironic connotation that it would acquire later and that we still use today. That aspect would come with Patroclus' comment in Troilus and Cressida replying to Thersites' insolence when he finally leaves: "A good riddance."
Gossip
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The word gossip has a long and intricate history. It is believed to derive from the combination of the Old English word sibb, meaning "relative", and the word god. The term godsibb was used to refer to a person spiritually related to another, that is, a godparent. A few centuries later the word evolved into its current form, gossip, and its meaning was extended to anyone who liked to talk about other people's private lives.
However, the verb form we use today, to gossip, is entirely due to Romeo and Juliet's creator. It was Shakespeare who first used the term as a verb in three of his comedies: The Comedy of Errors, All's Well That Ends Well, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Well, no wonder—a good writer is, at heart, a great gossip.
Brave New World
Image: William Shakespeare, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
You may be familiar with this line from Aldous Huxley's famous book published in 1932. But the truth is that Huxley borrowed the title for his dystopian novel from Shakespeare. The English playwright used the phrase ironically for the first time in his play The Tempest. The naïve Miranda, confined since childhood to an island with no contact with men other than her father, says upon seeing some sailors: "O wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people in 't."
Today, we use the phrase in the same cynical and ironic way Shakespeare conceived it more than 400 years ago. When something is about to change in history or society but we are not quite confident about the outcome, "brave new world" comes to mind, and it is impossible to resist using it. At least now we know its origin!
Hazel
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Romeo and Juliet is a symbol of romantic love and is a story that has been adapted thousands of times in literature, film, television, and music. The words used by Shakespeare to describe the landscapes of Verona and the characters’ physical attributes are unforgettable and have remained in the memory of readers for centuries. Even when we are not aware that many of those words were invented or put on paper for the first time under the pen of the genius playwright!
"Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking / nuts, having no other reason but because thou / hast hazel eyes. What eye but such an eye would spy / out such a quarrel?" says Mercutio. This is the earliest record of the word hazel in reference to a color, in this case, to describe Romeo’s eyes. Fun fact: in the Elizabethan period, it was considered a reddish-brown color, rather than the greenish-brown we think of today.
Night Owl
Image: Jez Timms
Do you consider yourself a nocturnal person? Someone who prefers to be active at night rather than during the day? If so, you are probably a night owl! But did you know that Shakespeare was the first to use the expression figuratively to describe people keen on nightlife?
In classical literature, the owl was an animal with negative connotations and was typically associated with bad omens. In Shakespeare's plays, they appear frequently, usually to announce that something bad is about to happen. However, in the narrative poem "The Rape of Lucrece," the night owl refers directly to a person: "The dove sleeps fast that this night-owl will catch: / Thus treason works ere traitors be espied." We’ve all felt a bit like a night owl at one time or another, but fortunately, nowadays the expression doesn't carry that negative connotation.
Bandit
Image: Matt Riches
Shakespeare's fascination with Italy is well known. Renaissance literature was profoundly influenced by the ideas, styles, and themes that emerged in Italy during this period. In the case of Shakespeare, the Italian influence is evident in the settings, themes, characters, and language of his plays.
In the same way that the author recovered terms and expressions from Old English, he also adapted words from other languages that were later incorporated into the popular lexicon. This is the case of the word bandit, which derives from the Italian bandito and literally means "one who is banished," referring to an outlaw who lives by stealing and other misdeeds. The first written record of bandit can be found in the play Timon of Athens.
Green-Eyed Monster
Image: Alexander Garcia
Jealousy is a common human emotion that can eat away at a person. Literature has dealt with this topic in many ways, and Shakespeare is one of the authors who has done it most brilliantly. In fact, he coined a term to describe people who suffer from such deep jealousy that they can cause harm to others and themselves: the "Green-Eyed Monster."
In The Merchant of Venice, The Bard had already linked the color green with envy when Portia says: "And shudd'ring fear, and green-eyed jealousy!". Then, in Othello, the arch-villain Iago warns the protagonist, who is blind with jealousy over his wife Desdemona's alleged affair with Cassio: "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on."
Jessica
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William Shakespeare not only invented words, turned nouns into verbs, and added prefixes, but he's also credited with having coined a few female names that are still very popular today. Miranda, Olivia, Cordelia, and Imogen are just some of them.
This is also the case with Jessica, who first appears in The Merchant of Venice as the rebellious daughter of Shylock. As was his habit, it is believed that the author anglicized a biblical name from the Old Testament —possibly 𝘠𝘪𝘴𝘬á𝘩. Some years later, in the late 18th century, people in Britain began naming their daughters Jessica after the Shakespearean character. Fast forward to this day, the name has crossed the pond, and chances are you have a friend or cousin named Jessica.
Unfriend
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Shakespeare loved to play with language: he invented words, redefined others, and gave new life to thousands of forgotten terms and expressions. As far as we know he especially liked to add the prefix un-. He created or gave new meanings to more than 300 words that begin with it, such as unaware, unreal, uncomfortable, and undress. One of the most curious words in this group is unfriend.
Although the word already existed, it had not been used as a verb before the 17th century. The English author includes it in several of his works to refer to someone who has been left alone, without friends. For example, it appears in the romantic comedy Twelfth Night and King Lear: "Will you, with those infirmities she owes, / Unfriended, new-adopted to our hate." In the 21st century, the term had a revival with the advent of Facebook. Shakespeare could never have imagined the rise of social media, but he would surely be happy that his contributions to language are still relevant today.
