• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Kinney Brothers Publishing

Kinney Brothers Publishing

ESL Teaching & Publishing

  • Kinney Brothers Publishing
  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Audio Stories

Fun Facts About English #26 – Shakespeare

10/11/2019 by admin

Fun Facts About English 26 Kinney Brothers Publishing

William Shakespeare, like many of his fellow Renaissance writers, plumbed the classical languages of Greek and Latin to borrow, change, and invent new words. As English was moving from its Middle English legacies of German, French, and Norse languages, Early Modern English was in flux, with grammar and spelling not yet formalized. This gave writers the freedom to play with existing English compound words; turn nouns into verbs, verbs into adverbs, and creatively apply prefixes. Many of these new words carried into Late Modern English – our era of contemporary language.

timeline Kinney Brothers Publishing

Though Shakespeare’s writings contain the first written instances of many new words, some may have existed in an oral tradition before he penned them. For example, researchers have found that words like puke, though originally attributed to the Bard, have been found to have earlier sources. Be that as it may, as notated in the Oxford English Dictionary, many words are held up today as Shakespeare’s own.

Here are 50 examples of words we can thank Shakespeare for:

Shakespeare's contributions to the English language

You may also be interested to learn about idioms and phrases coined by other famous writers, words that are eponymously known for legendary personalities, or how words change by “rebracketing” when they are repeatedly misheard!

See the previous or next Fun Facts About English

Donald's English Classroom

Kinney Brothers Publishing regularly blogs on a variety of educational topics important to English language teachers. Donald’s English Classroom is your one-stop shop for downloadable ESL resources. Sign up here to be kept up to date and download a free CVC I Have/Who Has Activity Set!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Fun Facts About English Tagged With: Donald's English Classroom, english language, esl, ESL Activities, ESL Flashcards, ESL Games, ESL teaching, esl textbooks, Kinney Brothers Publishing Blog, Shakespeare

Primary Sidebar

Search

TpT Spring Sale! 3/28-29

Donald's English Classroom Spring Sale

Kinney Brothers Publishing

Kinney Brothers Publishing Catalogue

Donald’s English Classroom

Donald's English Classroom Catalog

Click to download!

USA Map Puzzle

Sign up and download for free!

Kinney Brothers Publishing 50 Plus Flash Card Activities

Click to see full listings!

Jooble Ad ESL Tutor Jobs

Weekly Fun Facts About English!

Fun Facts About English

Now in Japan!

Independent Publishers International

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in