Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This one is fascinating because Shakespeare completely changed the meaning of an existent word. Swoop had been in use already, but it meant “to move or walk in a stately manner,” much like sweep. Then Shakespeare came along and, in 1605, used it in Macbeth to describe a bird of prey, thereby adding the meaning “to pounce with a sweeping motion”…and it stuck!

Oh, Hell-Kite! All? What, All my pretty Chickens, and their Damme, At one fell swoope? [“Macbeth,” IV.iii.219]

In fact, he was the first to use swoop as a noun! (And note that the phrase above is still in use today, “one fell swoop”!) The verb took on that meaning shortly thereafter as well. So thank you, Shakespeare, for yet again redefining words for us! 😉

Word Nerds Merch!

Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This time we’re looking at swagger. We all recognize a swagger when we see it–“to strut defiantly or insolently.” But did you know that the base word swag means “to sway”? So it’s the swaying motion of that strut that gives it its name.

Shakespeare was apparently quite fond of the word, using it in King Lear, Henry IV Part 2, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

The verb came first in Shakespeare in the 1580s, but the noun for such a strut didn’t follow until 1727! I’m surprised at how long it took to cross that part-of-speech divide!

Word Nerds Merch!

Time for another word brought to us by Shakespeare!

This time, we’re looking at seconds. Now, first, note the -s on the end of the word. We’re not talking here about second, but about seconds…and we don’t mean the measure of time. 😉

The meaning that Shakespeare coined for us in one of his sonnets circa 1600 is “articles below the first in quality.” So think of items pulled from production that aren’t quite up to full quality so are sold at a discount. Shakespeare first used this as an extension of the natural meaning of “following the first” and it stuck!

Now, maybe your favorite meaning of seconds is a second helping. (I mean…) If so, then you should know that that meaning dates from 1792. So we can’t thank Shakespeare for that one, but that’s no reason not to enjoy it. In fact, I’m going back for seconds on my coffee right now…

Word Nerds Merch!

I love finding words that Shakespeare was the one to introduce to us…or at least, the first one we have record of. Goes to show the power of a writer, right? 😉

Did you know that hint also comes to us in its current meaning of “an indirect suggestion intended to be caught by the knowing” via Shakespeare as well? It’s true! He first used it right around 1600. It traces from Middle English hinten, which meant “to inform,” which is in turn from Old English hentan, which means “to seize.”

The noun form pre-dates the verb by about 40 years. By the late 1700s, the OED also records the meaning of “a small piece of practical information.” You know, like “I like coffee and chocolate. Hint, hint.” 😉

Word Nerds Merch!

For those of us living in the age of social media, unfriend is a verb describing the act of removing someone from your social media friend list. However, you might be surprised to realize that the word has quite a long history!

To be fair, it wasn’t a verb until around 2007, when it began to be used as just described on Facebook. But unfriend has been a noun meaning “enemy” in Scotland as early as the 1200s, and was still used commonly into the 1800s! And Shakespeare got in on the unfriend action too–he frequented used unfriended to describe someone who didn’t have any trusted friends.

So see there, everything new is just a borrow from something old. 😉 (Okay, maybe not everything…but certainly in this case!)

Word Nerds Merch!