8-5Neologisms

henry 55. WHAT NEOLOGISMS DID SHAKESPEARE CREATE IN HIS WRITING?

Did you know that Shakespeare invented the word puke? According to the BBC a neologism is a made up or artificial word. Dictionary.com says a neologism is the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words. Good examples of people that use Neologism are scientists. When something new is discovered scientist make up a name for it. A Neologism can also be creating a new meaning for a word. For example the word "fly" means literally too go up through the air. But people in our culture have adapted it to mean cool. Lots of slang words are neologisms, like the word baller. When Shakespeare couldn't think of a word for what he wanted to say he would make one up. A lot of these words are still used. This is a fun way to really understand how much Shakespeare influenced our culture. Some words the Shakespeare invented were eyeball, brittle, majestic, obscene, monumental, bump, cranny, critical, aerial, summit the list never ends. He made up nearly 3,000 words. Shakespeare also made up sayings and phrases like boldfaced, foulmouthed, and schoolboy. One thing that Shakespeare is greatly known for is his insults. Shakespeare knew how to lay down a diss. His original insults are extremely amusing to look at; Thou art a boil! Y ou egg! Young fry of treachery! I do bite my thumb at you sir. is such fools as you that makes the world full of ill-favoured children. In our book //A Midsummer Night's Dream//, Shakespeare first uses the word eyeball, Act III, Scene ii, Oberon to Puck. //"Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye; Whose liquor hath this virtuous property, To take from thence all error with his might, And make his **eyeballs** roll with wonted sight."// The influence that Shakespeare had on our modern language is amazing. He created thousands of different words that we still use. When we talk to others we use Shakespeare words without even knowing it. We can express ourselves more easily we can explain things more easily and in more detail. So we should appreciate what he did for the English language. And next time you are telling someone that you just puked. Thank Shakespeare for creating a word that sounds as disgusting as it actually is.

Fun Links: [|shakespearean insult generator]