# William Shakespeare: Playwright, Poet, and Word Inventor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047 "2010-05-28T06:16:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/21 "2010-05-29T13:25:02Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I for one prefer the ranting of exapno nutcase to the long scholarship of the oed staff. What do they know of words? > [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I just don’t know. The enormous erudition of the oed or the fantastically piss poor author. I just don’t know. **Moderator Warning** **Baron Greenback** , insults are not permitted in General Questions. Don’t do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/22 "2010-05-29T20:54:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Chronos, I can’t see your sig (or anyone else’s either), but are you giving divers alarums? No, it’s: > [@](#): > > Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. > –_As You Like It_, III:ii:328 Which I found rather fitting, as soon as first I heard it. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/23 "2010-05-30T03:35:28Z")
> [@ed malin](#): > > To Chronos: > > Why is time like the pace of people jumping in water? **divers** /'daiv3rz/ _ **adjective** archaic or literary_ more than one; various, several. [Old French from Latin _diversus_ DIVERSE (as DI-[sup]2[/sup], _versus_ past participle of _vertere_ turn)] - _Canadian Oxford Dictionary_ ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/24 "2010-05-30T08:07:58Z")
OK, now I see your sig. I hadn’t realized that this MB had an option to supress their display. As far as the OP is concerned, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Shakespeare actually had not coined any words at all. The fact that Shakespeare (or anyone else) is the earliest known cite for a word does not make them the coiner of that word. There’s actually relatively few words where the coiner is known beyond any doubt. And it’s even rarer for someone to coin more than one and when they do it’s just a small handful. (Lewis Carroll is the only multiple word-coiner that comes immediately to mind, and while he coined a bunch, only 3 are listed in dictionaries.) I have strong doubts about Shakespeare being so exceptional as to have coined 2000 or so words. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/25 "2010-05-30T13:30:19Z")
My friends and I had always assumed that he coined the words because there wasn’t another one at the time that would fit into iambic pentameter. But most of those words don’t fit that idea at all. Quite a few seem to be completely obvious coinages, similar to those that happen today. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/26 "2010-05-30T17:33:54Z")
> [@](#): > > (Lewis Carroll is the only multiple word-coiner that comes immediately to mind, and while he coined a bunch, only 3 are listed in dictionaries.) Asimov is credited with “robotics”, “positronic”, and “psychohistory”, though only the first ever sees usage outside of science fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/27 "2010-05-30T20:36:33Z")
“[pyschohistory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory)” does have a use outside of science fiction - just not the meaning that the Good Doctor gave it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/28 "2010-05-30T21:58:12Z")
And I could probably find a handful of scientific papers using “positronic”, too (though they wouldn’t be in reference to robot brains). I probably should have said that only “robotics” sees mainstream use. BTW, what are the three dictionary words Carroll coined? There’s plenty in “Jabberwocky”, of course, but I’m not sure any of them are mainstream enough for dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/29 "2010-05-30T22:38:09Z")
The standard online suggestions for Carroll’s coinages going mainstream seem to be “chortle”, “galumph” and (less commonly) “burble”. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/30 "2010-05-31T01:58:23Z")
M-W says that **burble** dates from the 14th century. The 3 I had in mind were **chortle** , **galumph** and **jabberwocky** , which are all in M-W’s Collegiate. The Third Unabridged has at least one more ( **bandersnatch** ), but I haven’t checked it for all his other coinages. Also, the word **boojum** is in the dictionary as a type of [tree](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boojum_tree). At best he gets half credit for that one. I thought of another person who gets credit for more than one word: Jonathan Swift. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047/31 "2010-05-31T16:58:51Z")
My Concise OED has **chortle** , **galumph** and **jabberwocky** , and also **snark** , all attributed to Carroll, so that makes four at least in the OED. Doesn’t have either **bandersnatch** or **boojum**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-shakespeare-playwright-poet-and-word-inventor/541047.md?page=1)