Questions tagged [early-modern-english]

Early Modern English was used from the late 15th century to the mid to late 17th century.

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4 answers
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What is an "aglet-baby" exactly?

This is a line from the Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare Grumio [to Hortensio]: Marry him to a puppet or an aglet-baby . . . Although 'aglet' is an extremely uncommon word, its meaning can ...
3 votes
2 answers
379 views

Etymology of the word "erre" in English

I'm currently working on Bible translations and have stumbled accross the word "erre" in James (1: 2-18) of the King James Bible. To be more specific in verse 16: Doe not erre, my beloued ...
5 votes
2 answers
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What did they use in Old English or Middle English before 'of course'?

I'm writing a story that heavily uses archaic or unusual English words, with a focus of non-Latin, non-French and non-Anglo-Norman derived words and how English might work without them. I found very ...
1 vote
1 answer
215 views

What is the "-sie" suffix meaning?

While playing Thief: The Dark Project, I noticed the use of the suffix "-sie" in some words, for example: woodsie, goodsie, treesie, etc. I struggled to find an explanation for this and ...
-4 votes
1 answer
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History of "literally": Who changed the definition of "literally" to no longer mean "figuratively" in the first place? [duplicate]

According to my research, "literally" used to mean "figuratively", or at least it was used by many people to mean "figuratively" several centuries ago. Yet, although ...
9 votes
2 answers
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Word contractions in Shakespeare's plays

In Shakespeare's plays it is common to find contracted words, such as "o'er", "e'en", "sulph'uous", "ta'en". Is it just a literary device or those words were actually pronounced (in day-to-day speech) ...
7 votes
3 answers
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What is the first mention/use of the word "America" in print in an English written/translated source

I am aware of the fundamental history of the etymology of the word "America" in regards to the land it represents: how Leif Eriksson first-named the Brave New World Vinland, and afterward ...
-3 votes
1 answer
145 views

Aren't English' "shoe" and French' "chaussure" related?

I was absolutely certain that shoe (en) and chaussure (fr) were cognates due to the obvious similarity between their first syllable, especially the pronunciation - that was until I looked them up on ...
1 vote
2 answers
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Appearances and usage of "believe on" instead of "believe in."

I am curious as to how much "believe on" has been preferred in over "believe in," and how much it has appeared in writing and manuscripts. I know the King James Bible uses it in only two books of its ...
1 vote
2 answers
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Understanding Nehemiah 13:24 in the King James Bible

The King James Bible reads in Nehemiah 13:24: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people. ...
11 votes
4 answers
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Can you correct this “old English” quote?

There’s an “influencer” that came across my page who posted a quote (attributed to themselves) and I know it’s wrong but I’m not informed enough to know how wrong it is. I’m not going to do anything ...
3 votes
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How authentic is the EModE in T. Nesbit's novel Beheld? [closed]

I checked out TaraShea Nesbit’s historical novel Beheld (Bloomsbury 2020) from my local library, after hearing an author interview about it on public radio. It is set in the New Plymouth colony in ...
4 votes
2 answers
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How is "ought" used in this King James Bible verse?

There's a use of the word "ought" from the Bible I don't understand. I've highlighted the relevant word: Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: ...
10 votes
4 answers
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How Was "Feast" Pronounced in Early Modern English?

In Romeo and Juliet, Capulet delivers a speech to Paris about his consent for him to court Juliet. With the exception of the first three lines, his speech would follow a coupled rhyme scheme... 16 ...
5 votes
1 answer
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First use of "jack-o'-Lantern” in reference to the Carved-Pumpkin?

According to OED the etymology of "Jack'o'-Lantern" (as a name for the carved pumpkin) dates to 1834: Jack-o'-lantern: also jack-o-lantern, jack-a-lantern, jackolantern, 1660s, "night-...
16 votes
5 answers
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…down the primrose path

What is the origin of primrose used in the idiom primrose path, as defined by the Oxford Online Dictionary? primrose path The pursuit of pleasure, especially when it is seen to bring ...
2 votes
1 answer
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What's an early modern English excalmation roughly meaning "raise the roof!"?

I am a translator of Russian historical fiction set in the early modern period (mid-late 16th century) and I am looking for some good period-specific English equivalents of the phrase "жги-говори!...
17 votes
6 answers
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Thank thou or Thank thee

How would Shakespeare have said "Thank you"? Can't decide if it is thee or thou, since it isn't really a sentence.
3 votes
4 answers
653 views

Meaning of “an” in Matthew (King James Version)

I'm having a little trouble parsing an in this context: Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee ...
6 votes
3 answers
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Is "-eth" (as in the verb "buildeth") always the singular? Is this inscription at Hoover Dam a mistake?

I was kind of surprised to find that one of the inscriptions on one of the towers at the Hoover Dam has what I thought was a typo, but I want to know if I'm in the wrong because I can't find anything ...
0 votes
0 answers
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How and why were different inflections applied to third-person singular verbs in the Early Modern period?

I can't get my head around why and how inflections were used in Early Modern English. I know that they were used to mark person, number and tense and so on but how and why exactly?
1 vote
1 answer
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Why is "from" used in "from henceforth"?

The dictionaries unanimously include the word from in their definitions of henceforth: e.g. M-W: from this point on Henceforth, supervisors will report directly to the manager. Cambridge: starting ...
2 votes
1 answer
320 views

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth

The following is taken from the prologue of Romeo and Juliet. I'd like to know why the plural noun overthrows takes the third-person singular auxiliary doth. From forth the fatal loins of these two ...
11 votes
1 answer
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Is there any difference between "thou wast" and "thou wert"?

Today I realised for the first time that in the KJV Bible both thou wast and thou wert are used, and I was intrigued by the need to have two forms for the same person and number of the past tense ...
96 votes
4 answers
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Is that an "r" in "worship" in a text from 1591?

I was trying to see how the Spanish word merced was translated into English in the 16th century, when I found this entry in a dictionary from 1591 by Richard Percyvall: I understand that the second ...
3 votes
0 answers
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"lift/raise all up to" or "lift/raise up all to"

I know the rule with phrasal verbs and pronouns is that If the object is a personal pronoun (me, you, him, us, etc.), we always put the pronoun before the particle: Oh, I can’t lift you up any more. ...
8 votes
2 answers
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Did the word "Crocodile" have a dreadful connotation in London 1600s?

I am writing a period-piece play based in London circa 1660s and wrote a poetic line that alludes to the crocodile as a "fearsome foe" or of much "danger and dread". I examined every mention of the ...
4 votes
0 answers
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Again = 'back, opposite direction'

In the OED, archaic again, under def. 1a, is 'In the opposite direction; back.' The last example given there is from John Bunyan, with "turn again": "Come then, Neighbour Pliable, let ...
8 votes
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What does the word "wind" mean in this John Donne poem?

“Go and Catch a Falling Star”, by John Donne Go and catch a falling star,         Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are,         Or who cleft the devil's foot, Teach me to ...
1 vote
1 answer
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How was ‘only’ (‘onely’) pronounced in early modern English?

I have noticed in some older English literature, that ‘only’ is written ‘onely’. Was this merely an example of historical spelling, or does it reveal an earlier pronunciation not as modern /ˈəʊnlɪ/, ...
1 vote
1 answer
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Is there any situation where an article could be used in front of a pronoun?

I was reading an online copy of the King James Bible and (in John 18:1) found this: When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into ...
4 votes
1 answer
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When did the word "demon" (for evil spirit) come into popular usage in the English language?

The English word "demon" has been found throughout the New Testament in modern bible translations since the 19th century. However, in the 16th and 17th century and earlier (Tyndale Bible, ...
58 votes
6 answers
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What were the rules for capitalising nouns in the 17th and 18th centuries?

It seems to have been common practice in the 17th and 18th centuries in English-language sources to capitalise the first letters of nouns, as in At which Time he prov'd himself the Noah's Dove, that ...
16 votes
2 answers
802 views

Odd possessive form of a proper name: Why does Dryden write “Lord Nonsuch his” instead of “Lord Nonsuch’s” but “Bibber’s” instead of “Bibber his”?

While researching a question posed on EL&U, I came across this list of the characters in John Dryden’s The Wild Gallant (1663), from a 1735 collection of Dryden’s works: DRAMATIS PERSONAE. MEN. ...
2 votes
3 answers
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What word was used with the meaning of "suicide" pre-1650s?

Online Etymology Dictionary puts the origin as such: "deliberate killing of oneself," 1650s, from Modern Latin suicidium Wiktiobary here puts: Suicide, 1651, New Latin coinage (probably ...
5 votes
1 answer
491 views

What was the pronunciation of the a in "trap" in early to mid Modern English in the UK?

I have often read that in Old and Middle English the "a" sound in words like "trap" was pronouned /a/. When it comes to modern English, Wikipedia suggests that this was raised to /æ/ in early Modern ...
2 votes
1 answer
251 views

What does "tenable" mean to Shakespeare?

Hamlet: If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, Let it be tenable in your silence still, And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, Give it an understanding, but no tongue: Tenable seems a strange ...
21 votes
2 answers
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Deciphering two words from their Archaic spellings

I am translating the 1509, first English Translation of Sebastian Brant's The Shyp of foyls (The Ship of Fools), and came across two words which, for the life of me, I could not construe or make ...
5 votes
1 answer
670 views

What does "carry't" mean?

What does "carry't" mean? I can't find a definition for it on the web. Here's an example of its use from Shakespeare's Othello, the Moor of Venice: What a full fortune does the thick-lips ...
7 votes
1 answer
380 views

Was the Shark frightening to 16th / 17th-century English speakers?

Undoubtedly, in our Modern-mind-set, for many the mere utterance of the word "Shark" (more so when in the ocean, swimming) brings a sort of dread or at the least, undesirability to the ...
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0 answers
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Merger of Early Modern English 'ir' with 'ur' and 'er'+'ear'

Before /r/, /ɪ/ merged with either /ʊ/ or /ɛ/, depending on context. After labials (plus clusters of labials and /l/) and alveolar stops (like in bird and dirt), the result was /ʊ/ (shown, among other ...
2 votes
1 answer
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Who coined "the eye of heaven"?

For the longest time I had always thought that Our great Bard had, with his poetic wonder, come up with "the eye of heaven" for his immortal, sonnet 18: Rough windes do ſhake the darling ...
7 votes
1 answer
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Did Shakespeare really coin "Alligator"?

I have read many essays on the heavily debated subject of just how many words Our immortal Bard coined. I think it is safe to say, some of the words (and phrases) which are credited to him are ...
3 votes
1 answer
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Meaning of "Men are decayed, and studies: she is not." (17th century English)

Came across this passage from Ben Jonson's Discoveries(17th century): I cannot think Nature is so spent and decayed that she can bring forth nothing worth her former years. She is always the same, ...
2 votes
1 answer
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Meaning of Log [long] Life from 1564?

I was reading 16th century texts with early descriptions of the Americas for a poem I am writing and came across this delightful, yet quite cryptic and arcane phrase: "log life" but this ...
0 votes
2 answers
393 views

Agreement between subject and verb in a number of / the number of [duplicate]

3 sentences:- A number of such incidents has/have been reported by the local residents so far. The number of such incidents is/are very low. The number of elephants in Kerala has/have been dwindling. ...
2 votes
1 answer
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What does "were this away" mean in this context?

I'm reading a description of the pyramids written by George Sandys (1577 - 1644). The paragraph reads: The top at length we ascended with many pauses and much difficulty; from whence with ...
3 votes
2 answers
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What is a yard of (pudding, ale, etc.)?

I was just reading William and Ceil Baring-Gould's sadly under-Annotated Mother Goose, in which rhyme #274 is: Hyer iddle diddle dell, A yard of pudding's not an ell; Not forgotten, tweedle-dye, A ...
14 votes
5 answers
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What is Middle English for 'Hello'?

I'm writing a text that includes Death personified (e.g., "The Seventh Seal" - Bergman; Doktor Faustus - Mann) He speaks in early modern English from the time of Chaucer. I'd like to know how he would ...
79 votes
6 answers
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Why "the powers that be"?

In the phrase "the powers that be," as in the sentence: It would never have occurred to the powers that be to run and supervise the National Lottery from anywhere but London. (Oxford ...