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Can We Help?: Shakespeare words: the process of language change

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Presenters sit on set, text overlay reads "I say 'Fell swoop' and I noticed others say 'Foul swoop', Which is correct?"
Can We Help?: Shakespeare words: the process of language change

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


Imagine being responsible for inventing over 1700 words!

That is the legacy of William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the English language. Most of these words were created through translations of Latin words or by combining words with prefixes and suffixes in original ways.

In this clip, you'll discover the Shakespearean roots of two common words.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Before viewing this clip, remind yourself of the basic parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection. Identify the parts of speech in the following phrase from Shakespeare: 'How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.'
  2. 2.What did the Middle English word 'gruf' originally mean? What did adding 'ling' do to this word? How did the use of 'verse' as a verb come about? What does 'fell' mean in the phrase 'one fell swoop'? Why do people now often say 'one foul swoop' instead? Does this change the meaning?
  3. 3.Shakespeare lived over 400 years ago and words like 'gruf' come from an even earlier form of English. What does this clip reveal about the way language evolves? Why did Shakespeare invent new words and phrases such as these? What purposes and effects could he achieve by doing so?
  4. 4.Create a chart of words coined by Shakespeare that are still popular today. We have him to thank for 'puke' and 'rant', as well as the more impressive 'majestic' and 'monumental'. On your chart, identify how Shakespeare coined each word, eg Latin translation, adding a suffix, changing part of speech. For some fun, investigate some of Shakespeare's insults, thou addle-pated boar-pig!



Date of broadcast: 25 May 2007


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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