Pater Familias

Theories, observations, and articles, by Philip Schaefer · All posts · Categories

SHAKESPEARE’S INVENTED WORDS.

July 21, 2010 at 6:31 PM · Literature, Politics, Shakespeare

SHAKESPEARE’S INVENTED WORDS. The discussion of Sarah Palin’s use of the new word “refudiate” led to this informative article by Professor Matthew Biberman about Shakespeare’s neologisms. (link via realclearpolitics). (My position on the controversy is that I am in favor of new words). Professor Biberman makes the valuable statistical point that Shakespeare gets credit for coining a lot of new words simply because the creators of the Oxford English Dictionary, in creating its history of word usage, relied on Shakespeare’s works as an archive.

3 comments

Dick Weisfelder July 22, 2010 at 8:04 AM

A new word I liked seems fairly unique to Tobago. It is “liming” meaning hanging out – just enjoying life – possibly originally linked to just sitting in the shade under a lime tree.

phil schaefer July 22, 2010 at 5:41 PM

What a useful word. And a life goal for us.

Mary Jane Schaefer July 23, 2010 at 10:55 AM

Or, in the immortal words of George Washington, “I cannot tell a lime.”