Shakespearean Vocabulary

Once again I bring you material from The Shakespeare Book of Lists by Michael LoMonico. It’s a great book. This time I’ve compiled his list of “Troublesome Words Used in the Plays” into a BYKI list for your learning convenience (words and definitions are his).

You may have seen my other Shakespeare BYKI lists covering Falstaff’s vocabulary. What is BYKI? BYKI is an online tool you can use to learn pretty much anything, even though the company that develops the software, Transparent Language, is focused on using it to teach foreign languages. I think that BYKI is perfectly suited for learning Shakespearean vocabulary, so I make wordlists on occasion and offer them on this site. To use the widget, simply click “Start Learning” and choose a mode (try Recognize It to start).

Why use my BYKI widgets? Because if you know Shakespearean vocabulary before you read the plays, you’ll know the meanings of difficult words as you encounter them, which will allow you to enjoy the flow of the story uninterrupted. This will increase your enjoyment of the plays dramatically (no pun intended). It’s critical to know the meanings of words like

• Dispatch
• Office
• Troth
• Verily

or you’ll miss out on some great literature.

The list below covers all of Will’s plays, and while many of the definitions given are for specific instances of the word (for instance, “power” will not always mean “army,” but it does in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III Scene 7) it will still be useful to know how the words can be used in different contexts. If you ever want to find occurrences of a given word in Shakespeare’s plays, I suggest you try the advanced search feature at Open Source Shakespeare. It’s very thorough.

Without further ado, here’s the list…

NOTE: Some words may look like they’re supposed to be verbs, like “mew,” which means “confine,” but if I didn’t write “to” in front of the word then it’s not intended to be a verb. A mew is actually a thing: a confine or a cage.

This BYKI List covers Falstaff’s confusing vocabulary in Henry IV, Part I, Act III.

Be sure to check out my lists for Act I and Act II as well.

To put together these definitions I checked several sources:

• The Online Etymology Dictionary
• The About.com Shakespeare Glossary
• Google’s define: feature
• Shakespeare’s Words by David and Ben Crystal
• Wikipedia (of course)

The first 50 lines of Henry IV, Act II Scene 2 are saddled with horse-related puns and wordplay. I was tempted to include phrases with double-meanings in the accompanying BYKI list, but that would have overwhelmed the rest of the content. Rather, have some fun exploring the dialogue yourself when you have a moment to relax. It’s good for a chuckle… and more than a few groans.

(In general I find that lots of Shakespeare’s puns are horribly far-fetched. Yet, strangely, when delivered by a skilled actor, they’re quite hilarious. Usually. Try to hear it all spoken aloud in your head while you read… you may do more chuckling and less groaning.)

“If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned. If to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh’s lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord: banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins; but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore most valiant being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry’s company, banish not him thy Harry’s company. Banish plump Jack, and banish all the world!”
(HIV.II.4.455-464)

One of the most difficult types of characters to understand for newcomers to Shakespeare are the comic figures and clowns (at least, that’s how it was for me). Being vulgar in speech and full of archaic¹ colloquialisms², I often find myself glancing at footnotes more than reading actual dialog when these characters are on stage. To help readers with this dilemma, I’ve decided to post, periodically, BYKI lists to help prepare your brain for this ancient vernacular³.

Pay special attention to scene I.2, where Falstaff drops the line, “Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.” (I.2.60-61) Henry V fans will be able to spot the situational irony (remember English class?) revealed in this future scene.

¹archaic: old ²colloquialism: term used in informal conversation ³vernacular: plain talk of common people