What are all shortened words of Shakespeare?

Answer 1

Contractions are and have been for many years a feature of the English language. Where syllables are not pronounced, they are replaced when writing the word with an apostrophe. There are many examples in modern usage: can not is shortened to can't where the apostrophe represents the silent "no". "I will go" becomes "I'll go" where the apostrophe represents the missing "wi". Sometimes but infrequently there is an actual change in the sounds so "I will not" becomes "I won't" and in some dialects "I am not" becomes "I ain't".

Some contractions have been around for so long that people no longer recognize them as contractions. In Middle English (about 300 years before Shakespeare) ownership was shown by the addition of "es" at the end of the word. They would say "The girles doll" (pronounced "The girl-less doll") or "the shippes mast" (pronounced "the ship-pess mast") or "the kinges house" (pronounced "the king-ess house") By Shakespeare's day, everybody was leaving off the last syllable and saying "the girlz doll" instead of "the girl-less doll". To show that there was something missing, they spelled it with an apostrophe for the missing sound: "the girl's doll". For example, "I am Fortune's Fool" from Romeo and Juliet.

Since Shakespeare's time many people have forgotten that this is a contraction and have trouble understanding why there is an apostrophe in "the girl's doll" and not in "The girls went to the beach." (The latter is not a contraction--it was always pronounced "girlz")

Shakespeare also notes other contractions we might have trouble recognizing. Verb forms ending in "ed" were said in full: buried was ba-ri-edd, stamped was stam-ped, curtailed was cur-tail-edd. Sometimes, however, Shakespeare wants us to pronounce these words the way we would pronounce them today. These three words are found in Richard's speech at the beginning of Richard III, and we find that stamped is spelled stamp'd and curtailed is curtail'd (the apostrophe shows us that the "e" is not to be pronounced, so the words sound as we would normally say them), but buried is still buried. Interestingly we also find that "lowered" is spelled so we know that it is not to be in three syllables, or even two, as we would usually say it, but one, sounding something like "lord": it is spelled "lowr'd" "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York, and all the clouds that lowr'd upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried."

Other contractions:

" A' parted even just between twelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide." Henry V Act II Scene iii. A' means "he" for some reason; it is used fourteen times in this scene alone. O' is "of" which you hear often when people are trying to talk like pirates.

"Will't please your lordship cool your hands." " 'T is very true" Taming of the Shrew, Induction 1. 'T is "it"; the apostrophe represents the missing "i". Polonius uses this five times in one sentence in Hamlet II ii ("That he is mad 't is true; 't is true 't is pity, and pity 't is 't is true") This is far and away the most common contraction used by Shakespeare.

"O! That I had her here, to tear her limb-meal. I will go there and do't i' the court, before her father." Cymbeline II iv. "Do't" is another example of the abbreviation of "it", and " i' the court" is "in the court". The apostrophe is the missing "n". The expression "i'faith" meaning "in faith" is used three times in 1 Henry IV II iv.

"If he took you a box o' th' ear, you might have your action of slander too." Measure for Measure II 2. This time o' means "on", and th' is obviously "the", so he means "box on the ear", but intends that Escalus should pronounce it "box otheer"

"Go fetch me something: I'll break ope the gate" Comedy of Errors III i Ope is not really a contraction but is a short form of "open" used where a one-syllable word is needed. It is used interchangeably with "open"; in fact the same character from earlier in the scene says "Ho! Open the door!"

"Oft expectation fails and most oft there where most it promises, and oft it hits where hope is coldest and despair most fits." All's Well That Ends Well II i. Oft is a short form of "often" in the same way as "ope" is short for "open". Shakespeare uses the long form too but perhaps less oft.

"These vows are Hermia's; will you give her o'er?" Midsummer Night's Dream III, ii O'er is "over" where the apostrophe replaces the "v". This is a common contraction in Shakespeare's plays--Helena uses it again in her next line after the one quoted

"Horatio thou art e'en as just a man as e'er my conversation cop'd withal." Hamlet III ii. There are two more words here where the apostrophe replaces a "v", "e'en" for "even" and "e'er" for "ever". We recognize e'en from the word "Hallowe'en" where "e'en" is short for "even(ing)", although Shakespeare does not use it in this sense. E'er is very common as is its negative form, "ne'er" which is a contraction of "never"

"God-den to you all, god-den to you all" Coriolanus IV vi. If you know that our word "Good-bye" is actually a shortened form of "God be with you", it will not surprise you to find that "god-den" which Shakespeare uses from time to time, is a shortened form of "Good evening". As we saw, evening becomes even, which becomes e'en, which in this case becomes "en". Thus "God gi'god-den" in Romeo and Juliet I ii is actually "God give you a good evening"

Answer 2

Shakespeare and many of his contemporaries tried to show in spelling the pronunciation of the words that was current at the time. Where a part of the word was left out, an apostrophe was substituted at the end of the word to show that it was to be said this way. Particularly people left off the ends of words, so instead of saying the they would just say th'. Instead of saying in they would just say i'. They left the "v" out of words like "even", "ever" and "never". Shakespeare didn't make this up; people talked like this.

We do this nowadays: instead of saying "it is not" we say "it isn't". Shakespeare's contemporaries would have done the same, except they would leave out a different sound, the first i, leaving " 'Tis not". Likewise we pronounce "burnished" to sound like "burnisht"; when Shakespeare wanted the word to sound that way he would spell it "burnish'd", because otherwise it would sound like burny-shed.

Careful choice of when to use contractions helped also to fit what Shakespeare wanted to say into iambic pentameter.

Answer 3

Spelling was not a firm or constant thing in Shakespeare's day: sometimes he spelled things differently to show that the word was pronounced differently, and sometimes he did it just because.

Sometimes we say "does not" and sometimes we say "doesn't"--they are the same words and mean the same thing but they are said a little differently, and that is why they are spelled a little differently. This is shown by marking the unsaid parts of the word with an apostrophe.

Same goes for Shakespeare. Sometimes he writes "even", but sometimes it's said in one syllable, leaving out the "v" and to show this he writes "e'en". In general, if you see a word in Shakespeare with an apostrophe, it's (or perhaps you prefer it is, or even 'tis) not difficult to figure out what letter has been left out.

Shakespeare uses some contractions different from the ones we use. He doesn't use doesn't. But he does contract "it is" into 'tis, ever into e'er, in into i', the into th', over into o'er, give into gi'. There are many more.

An exception is 'a, which is a slangy pronunciation of "he".

Answer 4

He used apostrophes to show when parts of words were left out. For example, the "ed" at the end of verbs was actually pronounced back then, so "prounounced" would be said "pro-noun-said". If you wanted it to be said in the modern way, "pro-nounst", it would have to be spelled prounounc'd. The apostrophe shows that the sound of the "e" is left out.

That's also true where consonants are left out, as in "whene'er" which is pronounced when-air instead of whenever.

We still do the same thing, especially with the word "not" don't we? Or haven't you figured out why those words end with n't?

Answer 5

Shaekspeare often used contractions particularly in order to fit his dialogue into the blank verse rhythm. They are generally different contractions than the ones we see today. " 'Tis", "e'en", and "e'er" are common ones.

Answer 6

There are too many to list, because he did it so often and to so many different words. The reason for shortening the words was not only the usual laziness that makes us say "don't" rather than "do not" but also the need to make the words fit into the blank verse which much of his plays' dialogue is written in. As a result we see (I'm just flipping through Hamlet here) in a prose passage "chapfall'n" for "chapfallen", and elsewhere "clamb'ring" for "clambering".

However, you can deal with almost all of Shakespeare's abbreviations if you know the following ones:

• 'a is he. Don't ask me why.
• 't is it. Also in combinations like to't, 'tis, or 'twere. 'Tis still it.
• th' is the
• e'er is ever, e'en is even, and o'er is over. Shakespeare apparently hated the letter v
• i' is in
• o' is of

Answer 7

tis, ope, o'er, gi', ne'er, i', e'er, oft, a', e'en. ;-)

Answer 8

'tis it is

ope open

o'er over

gi' give

ne'er never

e'er ever

oft often

a' he

e've even

Answer 9

gi'=give

i'=in

e'en=even

Answer 10

oer