Elizabethan Language Terms

Overview of Elizabethan Lexicon in Shakespearean Literature

• Foundational Purpose:
  • Serves as an essential reference for understanding common Elizabethan terminology encountered when reading the plays and poetry of William Shakespeare.
  • Facilitates comprehension of Early Modern English idioms, grammatical structures, and vocabulary.
  • Functions as a practical resource for literary analysis, textual decoding, and reflective writing in student journals.
• Supplemental Lexical Reference:
  • Expanded Elizabethan terms and definitions are accessible via Haney’s Pub: Elizabethan Language Lexicon (http://members.cox.net/hapnueby/lexicon.html).
• Publication Rights and Provenance:
  • Copyright 2006 IRA/NCTE (International Reading Association / National Council of Teachers of English).
  • Materials produced under ReadWriteThink.org, authorized for educational reproduction.
  • Visual assets: Image ©2006 JUPITERIMAGES, and its licensors.

Contemporary to Elizabethan Lexical Index

• Advice: Counsel
• Away: Aroint
• Beg: Pray
• Boy (used to address a male of inferior rank): Sirrah
• By the Virgin Mary (a mild expletive meaning “indeed”): Marry
• Chase (romance, as in boy chases girl): Woo
• Come here: Come hither
• Curse: Plague
• Days: -morrow (to the morrow)
• Depressed: Heavy
• Desire: Will
• Does: Doth
• Enemy: Foe
• Even; evening: E’en
• Farewell: Adieu
• Go: Hie
• Goodbye: Fare thee well; God save thee; I shall see thee anon
• Hello: Good day; Good morrow; Well met
• Here: Hither
• I think: Methinks
• If: An
• Ignore that: Shun that
• Informed: Privy
• Kill: Dispatch
• Listen: Hark; Hark now
• Maybe: Perchance
• Misery: Woe
• Never: Ne'r
• News: Tidings
• No: Nay
• Nothing: Nought
• Often: Oft
• Order: Decree
• Pay attention to: Mark
• Plan: Resolve
• Provided: Wrought
• Sad: Heavy
• Soon: Anon
• Speaks: Discourses
• Thank you: Grammercy
• There: Thither
• To which: Whereto
• Truly: Verily
• Wait a minute: Soft
• Why: Wherefore
• Wish: Would
• With: Withal
• Yes: Aye
• You: Thee; Thou
• You are: Thou art
• You should: Thou should'st
• You would: Thou would'st
• Your: Thy

Elizabethan to Contemporary Lexical Index

• Adieu: Farewell
• An: If
• Anon: Soon
• Aroint: Away
• Aye: Yes
• Come hither: Come here
• Counsel: Advice
• Decree: Order
• Discourses: Speaks
• Dispatch: Kill
• Doth: Does
• E’en: Even; evening
• Fare thee well: Goodbye
• Foe: Enemy
• God save thee: Goodbye
• Good day; Good morrow: Hello
• Grammercy: Thank you
• Hark; Hark now: Listen
• Heavy: Sad; Depressed
• Hie: Go
• Hither: Here
• I shall see thee anon: Goodbye
• Mark: Pay attention to
• Marry: By the Virgin Mary (a mild expletive meaning “indeed”)
• Methinks: I think
• -morrow (to the morrow): Days
• Nay: No
• Ne'r: Never
• Nought: Nothing
• Oft: Often
• Perchance: Maybe
• Plague: Curse
• Pray: Beg
• Privy: Informed
• Resolve: Plan
• Shun that: Ignore that
• Sirrah: Boy (used to address a male of inferior rank)
• Soft: Wait a minute
• Thee: You
• Thither: There
• Thou: You
• Thou art: You are
• Thou should'st: You should
• Thou would'st: You would
• Thy: Your
• Tidings: News
• Verily: Truly
• Well met: Hello
• Wherefore: Why
• Whereto: To which
• Will: Desire
• Withal: With
• Woe: Misery
• Woo: Chase (romance, as in boy chases girl)
• Would: Wish
• Wrought: Provided

Categorical and Syntactic Groupings

• Forms of Address and Second-Person Pronouns:
  • Thee / Thou: Contemporary "You" (objective and nominative singular informal/familiar pronouns).
  • Thy: Contemporary possessive pronoun "Your".
  • Thou art: Contemporary verb phrase "You are".
  • Thou should'st: Contemporary modal construction "You should".
  • Thou would'st: Contemporary modal construction "You would".
  • Sirrah: Form of direct address denoting a "Boy (used to address a male of inferior rank)".
• Formulas of Social Intercourse (Salutations, Valedictions, and Courtesy):
  • Greetings ("Hello"): Good day; Good morrow; Well met.
  • Valedictions ("Goodbye" / "Farewell"): Adieu; Fare thee well; God save thee; I shall see thee anon.
  • Expressions of Gratitude: Grammercy ("Thank you").
• Imperatives, Interjections, and Attentional Markers:
  • Aroint: Dismissive command signifying "Away".
  • Come hither: Directional command signifying "Come here".
  • Hark; Hark now: Auditory attentional directive meaning "Listen".
  • Mark: Cognitive directive meaning "Pay attention to".
  • Marry: Archaic mild expletive derived from "By the Virgin Mary", carrying the contextual meaning of "indeed".
  • Shun that: Avoidance directive meaning "Ignore that".
  • Soft: Tempering interjection meaning "Wait a minute".
• Spatiotemporal, Prepositional, and Interrogative Markers:
  • Anon: Temporal marker meaning "Soon".
  • E’en: Contraction representing "Even" or "evening".
  • Hither: Spatial indicator denoting movement toward or location at "Here".
  • -morrow (to the morrow): Temporal unit referencing "Days".
  • Ne'r: Temporal negative contraction meaning "Never".
  • Oft: Frequency indicator meaning "Often".
  • Thither: Spatial indicator denoting movement toward or location at "There".
  • Wherefore: Interrogative meaning "Why" (frequently misunderstood as "where").
  • Whereto: Relational connector signifying "To which".
  • Withal: Prepositional modifier meaning "With".
• Cognitive, Volitional, and Psychological States:
  • Heavy: Affective state signifying "Sad" or "Depressed".
  • Methinks: Epistemic reflective phrase signifying "I think".
  • Will: Volitional noun meaning "Desire".
  • Woe: Profound emotional condition signifying "Misery".
  • Would: Expressive verb of yearning signifying "Wish".
• Verbal Actions, Decrees, and Events:
  • Counsel: Act of advising ("Advice").
  • Decree: Authoritative mandate ("Order").
  • Discourses: Communicative verbal action meaning "Speaks".
  • Dispatch: Violent termination meaning "Kill".
  • Doth: Third-person singular present indicative of "do" ("Does").
  • Hie: Locomotive action meaning "Go".
  • Plague: Malicious invocation meaning "Curse".
  • Pray: Supplicatory verb meaning "Beg".
  • Resolve: Intentional cognitive action meaning "Plan".
  • Woo: Courtship behavior meaning "Chase (romance, as in boy chases girl)".
  • Wrought: Participial form signifying "Provided".
• Epistemic, Assertive, and Polar Responses:
  • An: Conditional conjunction meaning "If".
  • Aye: Affirmative particle meaning "Yes".
  • Nay: Negative particle meaning "No".
  • Nought: Absolute negation or nil value meaning "Nothing".
  • Perchance: Epistemic possibility meaning "Maybe".
  • Privy: State of knowledge meaning "Informed".
  • Tidings: Informational delivery meaning "News".
  • Verily: Emphatic truth marker meaning "Truly".