There's no two ways about it, William Shakespeare was a master with words, and used language to create vivid effects with words. His prose was so strong that he could illustrate a story by evoking emotions through pictures.
Let's take a look at how he changed the English Language.
By Introducing New Words into the English Language
He created an estimated 1,700 new words and phrases that have become essential to everyday speech. e He did this through various methods of linguistic creation.
By expanding English to create something new and fresh, using already familiar phrases so that the audience could easily follow on first hearing.
Converting Nouns into Verbs
A method linguists call functional shift, he transformed innumerable nouns into actions, like; “friend” as a verb, “uncle” as a verb.
At the time this was a big thing, but the English language was still very malleable and could be used to create a more expressive language.
Devising New Allegorical Definitions
Shakespeare used words and gave them new allegorical meanings, using literal terms and extending them to describe social situations, abstract ideas and describe emotions.
Attaching Prefixes and Suffixes to Existing Roots
He would add "un-" and create new words like “undress” and “uncomfortable.” These new words would close the gaps in the language.
Compounding Words
He would take two separate words and put them together and create words like, “Bedroom,” “eyeball,” and “lackluster”.
Words Shakespeare Coined That We Still Used Today
Here are some of the words we still used today that were created by Shakespeare:
gnarled
hurry
impartial
inauspicious
indistinguishable
invulnerable
accommodation
aerial
amazement
apostrophe
assassination
auspicious
baseless
multitudinous
obscene
palmy
perusal
pious
premeditated
Common Idioms and Words We Adopted From William Shakespeare
A lot of the phrases we use today in the English language were originally penned by William Shakespeare. Let's take a look at the most popular.
“The world is your oyster” appears in The Merry Wives of Windsor. The full line implies that if the world will not open willingly, you can pry it open with a sword.
“In a pickle” appears in The Tempest.
“Wear your heart on your sleeve” appears in Othello.
“Love is blind” comes from The Merchant of Venice.
“A wild-goose chase” appears in Romeo and Juliet.
“A tower of strength” appears in Richard III.
“Heart of gold” appears in Henry V.
“Dead as a doornail” appears in King Henry VI, Part 2.
“Break the ice” appears in The Taming of the Shrew.
The King James Bible or William Shakespeare?
Shakespeare's words are often confused with those of the Holy Bible, published by King James in 1611. Some of the most popular phrases thought to have been written by Shakespeare, but were actually taken from God's word are; “a drop in the bucket,” and “the root of the matter.”
The best places to verify Shakespeare's phrases are the Oxford English Dictionary and The Royal Shakespeare Company.
How William Shakespeare Regulated the English Language
Shakespeare's continuous use of certain words and phrases gave the English language reference points and criteria it needed to standardise the language.
Before this kind of standardisation came in the English language could have the same word spelled five different ways in a single document, all because the language was too flexible.
The period from the 1400s to 1600s was chaotic, still taking in words from French and Latin after the Renaissance. But thanks to Shakespeare's plays being written and spoken over and over again, it gained authority.
Through writer's like Shakespeare, the King James Bible, the printing press, along with other writer's like Marlowe and Jonson, they all contributed towards the standardisation of the English language.
Shakespeare's Affect lambic Pentameter, Poetry and Blank Verse
The rhythmic sound of poetry and drama are thanks to Shakespeare's mastery of the blank verse. This is written in lambic pentameter, and sounds like a heart beat; da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM. Even though the lambic pentameter wasn't invented by Shakespeare he utilised it because it mirrored English speech patterns.
Conclusion
Shakespeare's contribution to the English language is something we take for granted today, because we use it so much without thinking about where it came from. Along with all of the idioms and 1,700 words we still use today, through his writing he helped bring in a simpler version of the English language thanks to his use of the same words and phrases over and over again.
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