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Worthless is made up of two parts (bonus points if you can guess what they are), so this will mostly just be review. I’ve actually covered the origins of both parts of this word before. Where it comes from: Despite some scholar’s opinions on Henry VI (not the most interesting of Shakespeare’s plays), it’s certainly not a worthless play, because it gave us… well, the word worthless. WARWICK: Poor Clifford! how I scorn his worthless threats! Where it’s found: Henry VI, Part 3, Act I, Scene IĬLIFFORD: Urge it no more lest that, instead of words,Īs shall revenge his death before I stir. It’s Old English, where it meant “completely, perfect, entire, utter,” and also “full.” It’s Indo-European roots also means the word is related to the word plenary. The suffix -ful is, surprisingly or not, derived from the word full. It meant “an occurrence or accident” but also “fortune” and “fate.” It’s a stem of the word evenire, “to come out, happen, or result,” which is also the root of the word venue. It comes from two words (obviously), event and the suffix -ful.Įvent meandered its way into English from Middle French and Latin, where the word was eventus. It’s a favorite of mine, and probably one of Shakespeare’s most famous.Įventful was definitively a Shakespeare word there’s no record of it being used other than in As You Like It until it cropped up in the dictionary. Where it comes from: This particular monologue is also where English gained the word puking. Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Where it’s found: As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII Interestingly enough, in English native words get tagged with the suffix -able (hence, laughable), while more obviously Latin words get stuck with -ible ( e.g., horrible, crucible, etc.) able, on the other hand, came to us from the Romans Latin had two suffixes for words that meant “a capacity to do,” -ibilis and -abilis. The pronunciation was originally lack, but here we are with our yuck-yuck word laff. The Anglo-Saxon word for laugh was hlæhhan. This is related to a number of other Germanic words that look like someone just hit their keyboard in an attempt to coin a word.

Laugh is Old English, and was originally onomatopoetic. With that out of the way, laughable is a compound, made up of two parts: laugh and the prefix -able. (What, you don’t come here for my incredibly lame puns? I am agog, aghast, and other sorts of fancy words!) Where it comes from: I find it very… laughable that one of Shakespeare’s problem plays coined the term laughable. Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable. That they’ll not show their teeth in way of smile, Some that will evermore peep through their eyes Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time: Where it’s found: The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene I So I suggest you actually read the things you’re finding while browsing that tag, and perhaps look at the dates when things were posted before directing your ire at a blog that’s been inactive largely since April of 2012. The “worth” in money’s worthcomes from an Old English word, weorð.

Laughter, for instance, comes from an Old English word, hlæhhan. I tagged things with Old English when the words I was showcasing came from Anglo-Saxon. I am aware there’s a difference between Fand þa ðær inne æþelinga gedriht swefan æfter symble sorge ne cuðon, wonsceaft wera ( Beowulf, what up) and More of your conversation would infect my brain ( Coriolanus, picked because you are obnoxious). Anyone with even a passing interest in linguistics figures this one out. Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English.

Knock it offīroseidon, I haven’t updated this blog in over a year, but the amount of stupid in your question has prompted me to update. The Bard wrote in Early Modern English and people looking for true Old English have to put up with you in the tag. Anonymous asked: Stop fucking tagging everything with Old English.