Shakespeare Dictionary of Extinct Words
In many ways Shakespeare is the founder of the modern English that we use. He has enriched the way we speak and understand our language. In order to express precisely what he had in mind he created metaphors that so perfectly expressed those things that they have become common usage.
Nevertheless, it's in the nature of language-change that some of the mediaeval words Shakespeare used have been lost to us. There are suprisingly few of them - not enough to affect the smooth flow of modern English in his texts and, in any case, we understand most of them withour explanation. Below is a dictionary of archaic words commonly used in Shakespeare's plays:
Alack: an expression of dismay, sorrow, regret.
Example from Shakespeare:
'Alack the day, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead!' - Lady Capulet on Juliet's apparent death. (Romeo and Juliet)
Cozen : to deceive, trick or cheat.
Example from Shakespeare:
'I will be hang'd, if some eternal villain,
Some busy and insinuating rogue,
Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,
Have not devised this slander; I'll be hang'd else.' - Emilia on realizing that Desdemona has been slandered. (Othello)
Fie : to express annoyance or disapproval - 'shame on you!', 'rubbish!' etc.
Example from Shakespeare:
' Fetch him off, I pray you; he speaks nothing but madman: fie on him!' - Olivia when accosted by Malvolio, insinuating that she has sent him a love letter. (Twelfth Night)
Huggermugger: a secret act done too quickly, without thinking it through.
Example from Shakespeare:
'And we have done but greenly in huggermugger to inter him' - Claudius regretting having buried Polonius in such a hurry in secret. (Hamlet)
Prithee: 'please', 'if you don't mind'
Example from Shakespeare:
'Ay; prithee, sing.' - Orsino to Feste, asking him to sing. (Twelfth Night)
Marry: used in several ways _ it can introduce a statement, meaning something like, 'listen', or 'I agree', or 'indeed' or 'well'. It's an oath by the Virgin Mary.
Example from Shakespeare:
'Marry, sir, I would have some confidence with you that decerns you nearly.' - Dogberry to Leontes, telling him about Don John's plot. (Much Ado About Nothing)
Sirrah: an address used to someone regarded as socially inferior - 'my good man', 'fellow', 'hey you!'
Example from Shakespeare:
'You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe to-morrow four o'clock .' - The judge telling the executioner to prepare an execution. (Measure for Measure)
Sooth: 'in fact', 'to tell you the truth'
Example from Shakespeare:
'O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.
Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain;
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.' - Duke Orsino ordering Feste to sing. (Twelfth Night)
Zounds: an exclamation in the form of an oath - a swearword, abbreviation of 'God's wounds!' There are many modern forms, such as 'Jesus Christ!' or 'God almighty' and such constructions.
Example from Shakespeare:
'Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the
Lord, I'll stab thee.' - Poins to Falstaff. (Henry 1V Part 1)
