Shakespeare and the Bible
The History of the English Language
Course 1 · Chapter 7 · Shakespeare and the Bible
The 16th and early 17th centuries are the period of Shakespeare and of the King James Bible, and of a flood of new words from Latin and Greek. The popular claims about this period are often bigger than the evidence, so this chapter gives each claim with the source's own figure and its caveat.
The inkhorn controversy
Wikipedia's Inkhorn term article describes loanwords, or words coined from existing roots, that critics considered unnecessary or pretentious, named after the inkhorn, an ink container that became a symbol of writers. The phrase appears as early as 1543.
| Side | Who (per the article) | Position |
|---|---|---|
| For borrowing | Thomas Elyot, George Pettie | Enthusiastic borrowers |
| Against | Thomas Wilson, John Cheke | Cheke wanted English kept "cleane and pure"; Wilson warned against affecting strange inkhorn terms |
| Advice | George Gascoigne, Edward Phillips | Use more short English words; beware long borrowings |
The article says inkhorn terms still in use include absurdity, capacity, celebrate, commit, dismiss, encyclopedia, habitual and lunar. Many are longer than their Germanic counterparts, such as conflagration for "fire". It says many survived but over a third faded quickly: expede became obsolete, while expedite and impede endured. Older native words often persist beside Latinate ones, giving sets such as ask, question and interrogate. The article puts this in context: English was competing with Latin as the language of learning after displacing French, and borrowing filled real gaps in medicine, science, mathematics and philosophy.
Shakespeare
Wikipedia's Shakespeare's influence article says that before and during his time, English grammar and usage were not standardised, that his plays' popularity in the late 1600s and 1700s helped standardise the language, and that Samuel Johnson's dictionary (Chapter 8) quoted Shakespeare more than any other writer.
- Numbers: critic Warren King is cited as giving his total vocabulary across the plays, sonnets and narrative poems as 17,677 words, of which 1,700 were first used by Shakespeare. The article also gives a looser estimate of "several thousands" of introduced or invented words. Several of its claims on this carry "citation needed" tags.
- How: by turning nouns into verbs and verbs into adjectives, combining words not paired before, adding affixes, and inventing words outright.
- Phrases: the article lists seen better days, strange bedfellows, a sorry sight and full circle as still in common use, as examples and not a complete list.
Tyndale
Wikipedia's William Tyndale article gives his life as born about 1494 and executed in October 1536 near Vilvoorde in the Habsburg Netherlands, strangled and then burned after a conviction of heresy. An incomplete New Testament appeared in 1525 and a full edition in 1526, printed in Worms, called the first full printed English edition. It says his translations were the first English scriptures drawn directly from Hebrew and Greek, and that his phrasing was largely adopted by later English editions, including the Great Bible and the Bishops' Bible.
The King James Version
Wikipedia's King James Version article gives this account:
| Date | Event (per the article) |
|---|---|
| January 1604 | King James convenes the Hampton Court Conference in response to Puritan grievances; a new translation is proposed |
| 1604 to 1611 | About 47 scholars (54 were originally approved), all Church of England members and all but one clergy, work in six committees at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster; a General Committee reviews their drafts |
| 1611 | The translation is published |
| 1769 | The Oxford standard text makes it more accessible |
- Sources: the New Testament drew on the Textus Receptus; the Old Testament on the Masoretic Hebrew text, revised from the Bishops' Bible. The Bishops' Bible was the primary guide, and the translators could consult a pre-approved list including Tyndale's Bible.
- Tyndale's share: the King James Version article cites a recent estimate that about 84% of the KJV New Testament is word-for-word identical to Tyndale's. The William Tyndale article cites estimates of 55% to 83% of Tyndale's wording in the KJV New Testament, and about 76% for the first half of the Old Testament. The figures differ and I show both without choosing.
- Influence: in continuous use for over four centuries, and shaping English literature, hymnody, liturgy and everyday idioms "more than any other English Bible", the article says.
- Language: it reflects Early Modern English with archaisms and "false friends", words whose meanings have shifted. Printing was inconsistent and later printings introduced errors, such as the "Wicked Bible".
I did not see the King James article's discussion of thee and thou, so I do not describe it.
Words to know
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Inkhorn term | A learned borrowed word that critics found pretentious |
| Coinage | A newly invented word |
| First attestation | The earliest written example found, which may not be the first use |
| Archaism | An old-fashioned word or form |
| False friend | A word whose meaning has changed so that it misleads a modern reader |
| Doublet | Two words from the same source by different routes |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Think of the answer first, then click to check.
1. What were inkhorn terms?
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Loanwords or coinages from Latin and Greek roots that critics thought unnecessary or pretentious.
2. Name one defender and one critic of borrowing.
Show answer
Defenders: Thomas Elyot and George Pettie. Critics: Thomas Wilson and John Cheke.
3. Give two inkhorn words that survived and one that did not.
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For example absurdity and capacity survived; expede became obsolete.
4. Why is "Shakespeare invented 1,700 words" a risky claim?
Show answer
The article says he is often credited with first uses that can be found in other writers, and another count in its references is 422; the article does not reconcile them.
5. Name two ways the article says Shakespeare made words.
Show answer
For example turning nouns into verbs, combining words not paired before, adding affixes, or inventing words outright.
6. What was special about Tyndale's New Testament of 1526?
Show answer
It was the first full printed English edition, and the first English scriptures drawn directly from Hebrew and Greek, according to the article; Tyndale was executed in 1536.
7. When was the King James Version commissioned and published?
Show answer
Proposed at the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604, and published in 1611.
8. How much of the KJV New Testament is Tyndale's, per the two articles?
Show answer
The King James Version article cites an estimate of about 84% word-for-word identical; the William Tyndale article cites 55% to 83%.