Archaisms in literature

2 Analysis of ancient texts

W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 2.

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery, so gaz'd on now, Will be a tatter'd weed, of small worth held. Then being ask'd where all thy beauty lies, Where all the treasure of thy lusty days To say, within thine own deep-sunken eyes, Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use, If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,' Proving his beauty by succession thine!

Thy – your

Brow – forehead, expression (EME, poetic)

Livery - gown; dress; costume; finery (EME, poetic)

So gaz'd on now - here – that I see on you now

Tatter'd – tattered

Of small worth held - of the worst type

Lusty - healthy , strong , vigorous

Thine – your

Thou – you

Couldst – could

When forty winters will besiege your face, and dig deep trenches in your beauty's field, your youth's proud gown, that I see on you now, will become a tattered weed, of the worst type. Then being asked where all your beauty lies, where all the treasure of your vigorous days to say, within your own deep-sunken eyes, were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise How much more praise deserved your beauty's use, If you could answer 'This fair child of mine will sum my count, and make my old excuse,' Proving his beauty by your succession!

An unaware person is unlikely to understand some words in this sonnet. May be someone will assume that this sonnet has an awkward conglomeration of archaic forms. But taking into consideration that it is written by Shakespeare, all the doubts concerning its readability and perceptibility are gone. Here we can easily trace an existence of archaic forms of personal pronouns. The verb form couldst, faintly reminding German word because of its ending –st, attracts reader’s attention as well.  We can also see words that changed their meanings nowadays. E. g. the word brow means a part of the face – arched line of hair above one’s eye, but not the whole face. Word order also differs from Modern English rules of subject-predicative system.

Love and duty reconcil’d by W. Congreve (late 17th c).

Being come to the House, they carried him to his Bed, and hav­ing sent for Surgeons Aurelian rewarded and dismissed the Guard. He stay'd the dressing of Claudio's Wounds, which were many, though they hop'd none Mortal: and leaving him to his Rest, went to give Hippolito an Account of what had happened, whom he found with a Table before him, leaning upon both his Elbows, his Face covered with his Hands, and so motionless, that Aurelian concluded he was asleep; seeing several Papers lie before him, half written and blotted out again, he thought to steal softly to the Table, and discover what he had been employed about. Just as he reach'd forth his Hand to take up one of the Papers, Hippolito started up so on the suddain, as surpriz'd Aurelian and made him leap back; Hippolito, on the oth­er hand, not supposing that any Body had been near him, was so disordered with the Appearance of a Man at his Elbow, (whom his Amaze­ment did not permit him to distinguish) that he leap'd hastily to his Sword, and in turning him about, overthrew the Stand and Can­dles.

Here in this text we still observe the considerable remnants of German language influence – all the nouns are written with a capital latter. Verbal forms diverge from Modern English norms - being come instead of having come, clipping of the letter ‘e’ in the past form of regular verbs by means of apostrophizing etc. Comparing two texts, one – written approximately in 16th century and another – in late 17th, I’ve made out that English has considerably changed during such a short period of time. It made a long way to its today’s analytical system. 

3 Archaisms in literature and mass media

Deliberate usage of archaisms

Occasional archaism is always a fault, conscious or unconscious. There are, indeed, a few writers—Lamb is one of them—whose uncompromising terms, 'Love me, love my archaisms', are generally accepted; but they are taking risks that a novice will do well not to take.  As to unconscious archaism, it might be thought that such a thing could scarcely exist: to employ unconsciously a word that has been familiar, and is so no longer, can happen to few. Yet charitable readers will believe that in the following sentence demiss has slipped unconsciously from a learned pen:

He perceived that the Liberal ministry had offended certain influential sections by appearing too demiss or too unenterprising in foreign affairs.—Bryce.

The guilt of such peccadilloes as this may be said to vary inversely as the writer's erudition; for in this matter the learned may plead ignorance, where the novice knows too well what he is doing. It is conscious archaism that offends, above all the conscious archaisms of the illiterate: the historian's It should seem, even the essayist's You shall find, is less odious, though not less deliberate, than the ere, oft, aught, thereanent, I wot, I trow, and similar ornaments, with which amateurs are fond of tricking out their sentences. This is only natural. An educated writer's choice falls upon archaisms less hackneyed than the amateur's; he uses them, too, with more discretion, limiting his favourites to a strict allowance, say, of once in three essays. The amateur indulges us with his whole repertoire in a single newspaper letter of twenty or thirty lines, and—what is worse—cannot live up to the splendours of which he is so lavish: charmed with the discovery of some antique order of words, he selects a modern slang phrase to operate upon; he begins a sentence with ofttimes, and ends it with a grammatical blunder; aspires to albeit, and achieves howbeit. This list begins with the educated specimens, but lower down the reader will find several instances of this fatal incongruity of style; fatal, because the culprit proves himself unworthy of what is worthless. For the vilest of trite archaisms has this latent virtue, that it might be worse; to use it, and by using it to make it worse, is to court derision.

A coiner or a smuggler shall get off tolerably well.—Lamb.

The same circumstance may make one person laugh, which shall render another very serious.—Lamb.

You shall hear the same persons say that George Barnwell is very natural, and Othello is very natural.—Lamb.

Don Quixote shall last you a month for breakfast reading.—Spectator.

Take them as they come, you shall find in the common people a surly indifference.—Emerson.

The worst of making a mannerism of this shall is that, after the first two or three times, the reader is certain to see it coming; for its function is nearly always the same—to bring in illustrations of a point already laid down.

Some of us, like Mr. Andrew Lang for instance, cannot away with a person who does not care for Scott or Dickens.—Spectator.

One needs not praise their courage.—Emerson.

What turn things are likely to take if this version be persisted in is a matter for speculation.—Times.

If Mr. Hobhouse's analysis of the vices of popular government be correct, much more would seem to be needed.—Times.

Mr. Bowen has been, not recalled, but ordered to Washington, and will be expected to produce proof, if any he have, of his charges against Mr. Loomis.—Times.

It were futile to attempt to deprive it of its real meaning.—Times.

It were idle to deny that the revolutionary movement in Russia is nowhere followed with keener interest than in this country.—Times.

It were idle to deny that coming immediately after the Tangier demonstration it assumes special and unmistakable significance.—Times.

He is putting poetic 'frills', if the phrase be not too mean, on what is better stated in the prose summary of the argument.—Times.

Regarded as a counter-irritant to slang, archaism is a failure. Frills is ten times more noticeable for the prim and pompous be.

Under them the land is being rapidly frivolled away, and, unless immediate action be taken, the country will be so tied that...—Times.

That will depend a good deal on whether he be shocked by the cynicism of the most veracious of all possible representations...—H. James.

We may not quote the lengthy passage here: it is probably familiar to many readers.—Times.

'We must not'. Similarly, the modern prose English for if I be, it were, is if I am, it would be.

'I have no particular business at L.,' said he; 'I was merely going thither to pass a day or two.'—Borrow.

I am afraid you will hardly be able to ride your horse thither in time to dispose of him.—Borrow.

It will necessitate my recurring thereto in the House of Commons.—Spectator.

The Scottish Free Church had theretofore prided itself upon the rigidity of its orthodoxy.—Bryce.

The special interests of France in Morocco, whereof the recognition by Great Britain and Spain forms the basis of the international agreements concluded last year by the French Government.—Times.

To what extent has any philosophy or any revelation assured us hereof till now?—F. W. H. Myers.

On the concert I need not dwell; the reader would not care to have my impressions thereanent.—C. Brontë.

There, not thither, is the modern form; to it, not thereto; of which, of this, not whereof hereof; till then, or up to that time, not theretofore. So, in the following examples, except, perhaps, before, though; not save, perchance, ere, albeit.

Nobody save an individual in no condition to distinguish a hawk from a handsaw...—Times.

My ignorance as to 'figure of merit' is of no moment save to myself.—Times.

This we obtain by allowing imports to go untaxed save only for revenue purposes.—Spectator.

Who now reads Barry Cornwall or Talfourd save only in connexion with their memorials of the rusty little man in black?—Times.

In my opinion the movements may be attributed to unconscious cerebration, save in those cases in which it is provoked wilfully.—Times.

When Mr. Roosevelt was but barely elected Governor of New York, when Mr. Bryan was once and again by mounting majorities excused from service at the White House, perchance neither correctly forecasted the actual result.—Times.

Dr. Bretton was a cicerone after my own heart; he would take me betimes ere the galleries were filled.—C. Brontë.

He is certainly not cruising on a trade route, or his presence would long ere this have been reported.—Times.

Mr. Shaynor unlocked a drawer, and ere he began to write, took out a meagre bundle of letters.—Kipling.

Fortifications are fixed, immobile defences, and, in time of war, must await the coming of an enemy ere they can exercise their powers of offence.—Times.

'It is something in this fashion', she cried out ere long; 'the man is too romantic and devoted.'—C. Brontë.

Ere departing, however, I determined to stroll about and examine the town.—Borrow.

The use of ere with a gerund is particularly to be avoided.

And that she should force me, by the magic of her pen to mentally acknowledge, albeit with wrath and shame, my own inferiority!—Corelli.

Such things as our modern newspapers chronicle, albeit in different form.—Corelli.

It is thought by experts that there could be no better use of the money, albeit the best American colleges, with perhaps one exception, have very strong staffs of professors at incredibly low salaries.—Times.

'Oxoniensis' approaches them with courage, his thoughts are expressed in plain, unmistakable language, howbeit with the touch of a master hand.—Daily Telegraph.

The writer means albeit; he would have been safer with though.

Living in a coterie, he seems to have read the laudations and not to have noticed aught else.—Times.

Hence, if higher criticism, or aught besides, compels any man to question, say, the historic accuracy of the fall...—Daily Telegraph.

Many a true believer owned not up to his faith.—Daily Telegraph.
The controversy now going on in your columns anent 'Do we believe?' throws a somewhat strange light upon the religion of to-day.—Daily Telegraph.

It is because the world has not accepted the religion of Jesus Christ our Lord, that the world is in the parlous state we see it still.—Daily Telegraph.

A discussion in which well nigh every trade, profession and calling have been represented.—Daily Telegraph.

Why not? Because we have well-nigh bordering on 300 different interpretations of the message Christ bequeathed us.—Daily Telegraph.

It is quite a common thing to see ladies with their hymn-books in their hands, ere returning home from church enter shops and make purchases which might every whit as well have been effected on the Saturday.—Daily Telegraph.

How oft do those who train young minds need to urge the necessity of being in earnest...—Daily Telegraph.

I trow not.—Daily Telegraph.

The clerk, as I conjectured him to be from his appearance, was also commoved; for, sitting opposite to Mr. Morris, that honest gentleman's terror communicated itself to him, though he wotted not why.—Scott.

I should be right glad if the substance could be made known to clergy and ministers of all denominations.—Daily Telegraph.

So sordid are the lives of such natures, who are not only not heroic to their valets and waiting-women, but have neither valets nor waiting-women to be heroic to withal.—Dickens.

Commonly misused archaisms

You who? "Thou", "thee" and "ye"

As most people know, thou, thee and ye all mean "you". But they are not interchangeable, as they are sometimes used. They represent different uses of the pronoun "you".

Thou

"You", singular nominative. Used if the "you" addressed is the subject of the sentence. (Thou givest unto me...)

Thee

"You", singular accusative. Used if the "you" is the object of the sentence. (I give unto thee...)

Ye

"You", plural. Used when addressing a group. (All ye, hear this...)

Because, in modern English, all of those meanings are encompassed in the single word "you", they may be difficult to distinguish. It might be helpful to recall the parallels in a case-formed language such as French (e.g. "tu", "te" and "vous")

Thy place or thine?

Thy

"Your", referring to a noun beginning with a consonant. (e.g. Set me as a seal upon thy heart.)

Thine                                                                                                                        (a) "Your", used in place of "thy" with nouns that begin with a vowel. (e.g. Fetch thine arms and armour.)

(b) "Yours", "that which belongs to you". (e.g. Thou hast what is thine.)

Go hence and fetch him hither!

The hence/hither stable of words seems to cause problems, usually through people not knowing which is which.

Hence

"From here", or "from this time". (e.g. The enemy comes! We must fly swiftly hence.)

Hither

"To here". (e.g. Bring the wretch hither.)

Thence

"From there". (e.g. The mountain rumbled and fire thence issued.)

Thither

"To there". (e.g. It had been many years since he had travelled thither.)

Whence

"From where", or "from which". (e.g. The rock whence issued the spring.)

Whither

"To where". (e.g. Whither do you travel?)

Also note that since the direction of movement (to, from) is already implied in the word, phrases like "from whence" are, strictly speaking, inaccurate, although they have passed into common use.

Wherefore

Means "why". (Not "where".) Probably the most famous usage is in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet asks 'Wherefore art thou Romeo?', meaning "Why are you [named] Romeo?".

Conclusion

The most interesting and at the same time sophisticated process that receives the study of Linguistics is a change of a language in a course of time. Complicated word integrations, appearing and evanescence of words, phraseological units, and grammatical constructions – all this is undividable part of language progress. I can compare archaisms with an echo of ancient times, because they deliver us information about cultural life of previous generations. Archaisms also reflect an inner aspect of people consciousness.

In the process of this research I found out definition of archaism -  Archaisms are words which are no longer used in everyday speech, which have been exiled by their synonyms. Archaisms remain in the language, but they are used as stylistic devices to express solemnity. Most of these words are lexical archaisms and they are stylistic synonyms of words which expelled them from the neutral style.

 In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately (to achieve a specific effect) or as part of a specific jargon (for example in law) or formula (for example in religious contexts). Many nursery rhymes contain archaisms. Archaic elements that only occur in certain fixed expressions are not considered to be archaisms.

I also  pointed out main spheres of usage of archaic words - Archaisms are most frequently encountered in poetry, law, and ritual writing and speech. Their deliberate use can be subdivided into literary archaisms, which seeks to evoke the style of older speech and writing; and lexical archaisms, the use of words no longer in common use. Archaisms are kept alive by these ritual and literary uses and by the study of older literature.

Working with Shakespeare's sonnet anв with the text I was imbued with the magnificence of ancient language stylistic figurativeness and expressiveness. I was astonished with the fact of relative readability and understandability, though in the sonnet I stumbled upon misunderstanding – several words were really incomprehensible, but with a help of dictionaries, founts of wisdom, I cleared up the meanings of that words and made a translation. Besides revealing archaisms, I hit upon the thing that shows Germanic origin of the English language.

Usage of archaism in literature I emphasized in the third chapter of my course work. It includes a lot of interesting information about conditions and consequences of usage of archaisms, more over I also decided to point out common misuse of archaisms.

Making a conclusion I assume that all the main objectives of this work were successfully investigated, main aspects were thoroughly examined and acceptable understanding of the notion “archaism” was achieved     

References

OXFORD: CLARENDON PRESS, 1908 NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 1999 SECOND EDITION

H.W. Fowler (1858–1933).  The King’s English, 2nd ed.  1908. A COURSE IN MODERN ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY SECOND EDITION R.S. Ginzburg, S. S. Khidekel, G. Y. Knyazeva, A. A. Sankin

Дубенец - Курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка.

Jespersen ,Otto. Growth and Structure of the English Language. Oxford, 1982.

Canon G. Historical Changes and English Wordformation: New Vocabulary items. N.Y., 1986.

Burchfield R.W. The English Language. Lnd. ,1985

“A History of English” by Barbara A. Fennell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaism

http://www.supermozg.com

http://www.ielanguages.com

http://www.bartleby.com/116/305.html

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