So You Wish to Speak Foresoothly
by
Joyston Brooks (Coniach McCleod)
Glossary of Ren Speak
This glossary is written to give you an idea of “proper” renaissance words and speech. A
common misconception is that everyone spoke with thee’s and thou’s like Shakespeare’s play’s.
That was fine if you were an early 17th century semi-noble Englishman. (Shakespeare, like all
great writers, wrote to his audience.) However, not everyone is of noble birth, so these terms and
phrases are designed to be useful on many occasions. By the way, insults are a lot of fun so
always look for ways to hide a jibe.
Anon
I will see you later
Wench
Girl under 12 or woman of
little virtue
Avail
Do this for me
Ere
Are
Wasser
Water
Blatherskite
Man of little ambition
Good Morrow
Good day (Hello)
Git
Scottish for Weirdo
Perchance
Maybe
Gin
Once again
Wouldst
Would
Fop
Man with feminine
qualities
Ye
You (Irish)
Attend
Pay attention
Ale
Beer (to some also food)
Beg of you
pardon
Excuse me
Sup
To dine
Keeper
Bartender
Bread
Food
Huzzah
Hooray
Milord
Man of peerage or
esteem
Vivant
Long Life
Milady
Woman
Taleteller
Liar
Fi
Expletive meaning F**k
Holy Day
Sunday
Steel
Sword
Leaf
Tobacco
Merde (fr)
Expletive “S**t”
Filk
Semi-Period song (usually
a jest)
Bard
Storyteller
Special
Job
Merchant
Vendor (also Pirate)
Houser
Area Lord
Shire
Town
Stringer
Executioner
Keep
Castle
Fate
Faith
Camp follower
Prostitute
And Now En Francais…….
Common Expressions
Even if you aren’t of a French-speaking persuasion, you ought to be familiar with a few common
expressions. The terms below have phonetic pronunciations attached. Note that French is an
unaccented language, so generally speaking no syllable is stressed over another. Another note is
that the “r” is pronounced like you were gargling, and the further north you are from in France
the more is sounds like a German “ch”. It’s okay for a southerner to roll their “r” like a
Spaniard. The other tricky thing is the nasal. Most combinations of a vowel and the letter “n” or
“m” form a nasal sound. The “n” or “m” isn’t pronounced, and “sound is emitted through the
nose and mouth by means of a lowering of the velum.” I have used [a] to represent the nasal
sound in “tant, [o] for the nasal sound in “pont”, and [i] for the nasal sound in “pain” and [u] for
the nasal sound in “un”. I lack special characters for many sounds, so the phonetic renditions are
VERY approximate.
Bonjour (b[o]-zhur)
“Good day”
Bonsoir (b[o]-swahr)
“Good evening”
D’accord (dah-kor)
“Okay”
D’accord patron (dah-kor pah-tr[o])
“Okay boss”
Denier (der-nyay)
The coin we use for money, a small
denomination
Monsier (m sy)
“My lord”, suitable for any gentleman
Monseigneur (m[o]-she-nyer)
“My Lord”, but with extra emphasis for a
higher ranking gentleman, like a peer
Madame (mah-dahm)
“My Lady”, suitable for any adult
gentlewoman
Merci (mair-see)
“Thank you”
Pas de quoi (pah-der-kwa)
Equivalent to “it’s nothing”, what you can
say in response to merci
De rien (der ry[i])
Another thing you can say in response to
“merci”
Non (n[o])
“no”
Oui (wee)
“yes”
Bien entendu! (by[i] [e]t[e]doo)
“of course!”
Soyez le bienvenu – (swa-yay ler by[i]-ver- “you are welcome”, as a greeting (sometimes
noo
just “bienvenu”)
Qu est-ce que vous voulez? (kes ker voo
voolay)(
“what do you want?”, as from barmaid to
customer
Je voudrais <whatver> … (zher voo-dray)
“I would like ,<whatever>…”
… du vin (doo v[i])
“some wine”
… du cidre (doo seedr)
“some cider”
… de la biere (der lah bee-air)
“some beer”
… des saucisses (day saw-sees)
“some sausages”
… du potage (doo poh-tahzh)
“some soup”
… du pain (doo p[i])
“some bread”
… du fromage (doo froh-mahzh)
“some cheese”
… du sel (doo sehl)
“some salt” ou est <whatever>
Ou est … ? (oo ay)
“where is <whatever>…”
… le vin (ler v[i]
“the wine”
… la fille (lah feey)
“the girl”
… le garcon (ler gar-s[o])
“the boy”
… le garderobe (ler gahrd-robe)
Literally, “the wardrobe”, euphemism for the
bathroom
Combine? (c[o]-by[i])
“how much?”
Donnez-vous le dementi a moi? (don-nay voo “are you giving me the lie?”, a good way to
ler day-m[e]-tee ah mwa?)
start a duel
J ai une affaire avec vous dehors (zhay dayz “I have business with you outside”, e.g. an
ah-fairz ah-vek voo deh-or
invitation to a duel
Assez! (ah-say)
“enough!”
Allons-y (al-l[o]-zee)
“let’s go”
INTRODUCTION
Understanding a people and their language
Elizabeth I came to the throne of England in the year 1558. The Middle Ages were over.
Europe was at the height of a cultural re-birth known as the Renaissance but was divided by the
turmoil of the religious reformation. It was a time of astonishing change, sea-born exploration,
and artistic achievement. Elizabethans distinguished themselves as people of imagination,
daring, and creativity. They excelled at letters and language, bringing a spirit of adventure to the
printed page. Their words, images, and ideas live on in the plays and poems of Shakespeare,
Marlowe, Johnson, and Spenser. They speak to us from the pages of countless pamphlets,
broadsides, court documents, tax records, wills, histories, and herbals. They survive in the King
James Bible and in the Book of Common Prayer.
The Elizabethans were enthusiastic participants in a verbal revolution. Thanks to the printing
press, books were less costly and more available than they had been only a generation or two
earlier. At the same time, religious reformers were advocating education and the ability to read
the Bible in English. Some estimates suggest that nearly half of the English populace achieved
at least minimal literacy.
What is Basic Faire Speech (BFS)?
The purpose of this guide is to teach you to speak Elizabethan English as a second language.
You can become so fluent and conversational that you charm and delight our visitors from the
twenty-first century, who come to our shire hoping to be convinced they are in a sixteenthcentury market village.
We are all Elizabethans here in Shrewsbury. You have worked hard making your costume;
you’ve developed the character you play. Now we are going to give you a voice.
English as it was spoken in Elizabeth’s day was a different language, nothing like the English
spoken in England today. The actual words people used, the sentences they constructed, and the
figures of speech are all easy to duplicate. Elizabethans were a literate, inventive people. The
classiest act by far was William Shakespeare. His plays will help you learn to speak
Elizabethan.
Twentieth century English is a dull, quiet, and unpoetic language. We are taught in school to
write what we mean in as few words as possible, for the sake of clarity and precision. We speak
the same way: we have to communicate quickly and efficiently, because we have so little time to
talk to each other. We even learn to speak with streamlines exactitude: we have computers to
program, after all.
The Elizabethans had far fewer reasons to rush about than we do. Certainly they had no
television programs to hurry home to catch, and there weren’t any stereo headsets to help them
wile away the long winter evenings. What did they do with all those hours of spare time?
They read, for one thing. They were the first generation with widespread literacy and
widespread availability of books. They also wrote, about every imaginable topic, from books on
growing strawberries to amateur histories of the world.
And they talked. They socialized, crowded around tables in taverns, discussing politics and
history and the latest gossip from the town over the hill. They sat in their homes or went to their
neighbors’ homes and compared notes on how their children were doing in school. They
wondered how Goodman Smith managed to grow bigger pears than anyone else in the village, or
why Master Eliot was absent from church three Sundays in a row. They compared what they’d
heard in church: what this deacon, who was a Calvinist, had to say about salvation; as opposed to
the last one, who had been a Lutheran. They couldn’t have imagined a world where people lived
shut away from one another, a world without talking.
So you shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that one of the most admired qualities in anyone at this
time was the capacity for good conversation. People enjoyed the company of someone with a
“ready wit” – a person who could tell a funny story well, pass on the local news in an exciting
way, and especially someone who had a talent with a well-turned phrase.
This went beyond polite conversation, too. In tavern brawls they were just as apt to pull out their
weapons and kill each other as we are, but the opponent who came up with the most blazing,
imaginative insults was usually judged the better man.
How to say it
Much of what we do at faire, and what our guests know of us, involves the noises we make when
we open our mouths. Accordingly, we want to sound Elizabethan (for historical purposes), we
want our guests to believe we sound Elizabethan (for theatrical purposes), and we want to be
understood (for general purposes).
We do not, therefore, speak a 100% accurate 16th century dialect. Frankly, our modern
audiences just wouldn’t get it, for while the English of the period is referred to as “modern
English” it is strange enough to our 21st Century ears to be incomprehensible at times. Thus we
speak with a BFA (Basic Faire Accent), a slightly relaxed Elizabethan that communicates most
of the flavor of the period while allowing us to be understood. Compromise is always the way
with theater; at Faire we are environmental theater on a grand scale, and compromise
accordingly. Likewise, exaggeration of movement and expressions, are hardly period, but it is a
fundamental part of theater. These things help us attain our entertainment and communication
goals, so we do them – history be damned!
Here are the critical phrases you’ll need to deal with everything from the family car to using
credit cards and still manage to sound Elizabethan.
Translations
21st Century
Elizabethan
Car
Okay, everybody remember where we parked the car.
Marry, forget ye not where we do stable the horse and cart.
Photo
Hey, could you hold still for a photo? Say ‘cheese!’.
Heigh ho, good folk, do tarry for a portrait. Sayest thou all ‘cheese!’.
=== Flemish painter ??? ===
Costume
Where did you get that great costume?
How came you be those most fine and beauteous clothes?
Did you make your costume”
Faith sir: I know not costume—these be my clothes. But you wear
wondrous fine rainment, now. Be you from the Indies, or belike far Cathay?
Bus
Hey, does the number 10 bus stop here?
Pray pardon, does the coach to London come hither?
TV
I want to get home in time to watch the Survivor.
I do want to return to town with time to see the pageant.
Massage
My feet are killing me. Honey, how about a massage?
I’faith, my feet do ache most mightily. Prithee, my sweetin’, wouldst thou
stroke them.
Baseball
Hey, buddy, how about those Yankees?
What think you, coz’, of that rounders team from York?
ATM
Hey is there an ATM machine around here?
Pray, good sir (madam), where be the exchequer’s post?
Craft
Where can I get one of those cool drinking cups?
Where be the pewter smith? The seller of tankards?
Credit Card
I don’t suppose you take plastic, do you?
Dost thou accept the services of Mistress Visa? Master Card?
Food/Drink
I’m starved. Let’s nosh.
Let us away in search of victuals afore I do perish.
So, where can I get a hotdog and a beer?
Where doth a soul procure a banger and a beer? Ale? Cider? Drink?
Is that real Wisconsin cheese?
Be that goodly cheese of the shire?
Water
Where can I wash my hands? Where is a drinking fountain?
Where be water for to wash? For to drink?
Person
Hey, where can we get a look at the Queen?
Where might I gaze upon Her Majesty, the Queen?
Schedule
Excuse me, what times does the jousting begin?
Pray pardon, at what hour does the tournament commence?
What time will the Queen be here today?
Well now, (squint at the sun), I do make it half-past the hour of ten now,
and I did hear the court and all the grand folk lay at Berkhamstead
yesternight, so she hath a good ways to travel…I reckon Her Grace doth arrive at three of the
clock today.
Telephone
Where do they hide the telephones in a place like this?
Where be the Italian talking devices? Bless that Leonardo.
Time
My watch has stopped. Does anybody know what time it is?
I see neither sundial nor clock. Pray, what hour be it?
Toilet
Where are the bathrooms?
Pray pardon, kind sir, but where be the privies?
Departing
Its time to leave. Goodbye everyone.
‘Tis time to sail to Roanoke with the Raleigh. Farewell, good folk.
Exit
Okay, so which way is out?
Where lies the town gate?
Injury
I think I sprained my ankle…please help me.
Hold on I’ll get a first aid team for you right away. (That is our subtle way
of telling you that you ALWAYS drop character in an emergency situation!!!)
Syntax
Syntax – the manner in which we string words together – was significantly different in the
16thCentury. Rather than trying to memorize proper Elizabethan syntax, here are a handful of
techniques that allow us to capture the flavor of the time, to sound foreign and period, even if
every word we speak comes straight from the 21st Century.
1. Use Elizabethan Noises – Proper sound
2. Exclamations—I think me, In truth, Forsooth, By my sword
3. Inversion—Never will I, So say I, Go you to see
4. Bombast/Doubling—Great grand, great huge, nay never, no nay never
5. Old stuff – My/mine, thy/thine, lest, writ, doth
Vocabulary
21st Century
Elizabethan
Yes
aye
No
nay
No way
nay not
Pardon me
pray pardon
Please
prithee / pray / I pray you
Thank you
grammercy / I thank thee / Many thanks, good sir
You know (?)
know you (?) / trow you (?)
Honestly, really forsooth / in sooth / by my troth/ surely / verily / indeed / marry
I think/I guess
I trow / I think me / methinks
Maybe, perhaps
mayhap / perchance
You’re kidding Go to!
Wow! Far out!
Marry! / I’faith!
Oh, no; Too bad
alas / well-a-day / God-a-mercy/ God’s me / ‘ods me
Darn it!
Alack! / Alas! / Fie! / Fie me! / Fie upon it!/ Out upon it!
Honey/Babe/Sugar
Dear / Sweetest / Sweetin’ / Dearheart / Love / Turtle / Darling
It is
‘tis
It was
‘twas
It will
‘twill
Come here
Come hither
Excuse me
I cry you mercy. / I crave your pardon.
Contractions
Just say no!
Diction
Speak slowly & clearly!!!!! Choose words especially with regard to correctness, clearness, or
effectiveness. (Webster) This is excellent advice for the beginner, for a number of reasons.
After all, this is the sixteenth century: life itself moved slowly and people had more time to
think about things. You’ll make a nice dramatic contrast to your twenty-first century visitor who
speaks in quick, slurred shorthand, ykknowhaddamean?
The other big advantage to speaking slowly is that it will give you time to think of something to
say. If someone approaches you and asks a question you haven’t any answer for, you don’t have
to blush and mutter “Gee, lady, I really don’t know.” Instead, you can scratch your head
thoughtfully, squint at the sun, and finally say something like:
“Now, in good sooth, madam, I protest I know not…but that lad o’er yonder, now, belike
he can tell you.”
People may ask you questions for which they need quick answers. Don’t make them wait all
day. Have a little set of stock replies worked out for the questions people are most likely to ask
you. Be witty if you will, but the important thing is to be pleasant and informative.
Enunciation…
Does the thought of hitting the shire streets with your new found tongue still sound painful? Is
there a roadblock somewhere between your brain and your mouth? Don’t give up. Here are a
few words of advice that may ease you on your way.
Prepare
Study this guide. Refer to it often. Read Elizabethan literature aloud. If it’s tough at first, it will
get easier. Watch the videos. A little preparation goes a long way. More preparation goes even
farther.
Goest Thou Easily
Relax. Even the most fluent speakers were, at one time, beginners. Start with a few key
phrases. Introduce others a little at a time.
Goest Thou Slowly
If speed sends your tongue careening off the Elizabethan highway, then slow down. Hey, life
moves slower in the 16th century so why shouldn’t you?
Be not Afraid to Hesitate
Someone runs up to you and asks: “Are you the queen?” Don’t panic. Stall. But stall with style.
Scratch your chin pensively, gaze skyward for a little divine intervention, look downward in
defiance of the devil and then, with a cocksure grin masking your uncertainty, say: Well now, in
sooth, uh….I do think me, uh…Madam, verily, uh….NAY NOT! You’ll knock ‘em dead.
Stock up on answers
People attending living history or theatrical events will ask you the same questions. Food?
Many fine victurals await thee o’er yon hill, sir. Bathroom? Aye, madam, for the privies, walk
thee down that road and to thy right. You get the idea.
ROB From the Rich
That’s right: Steal. Cut the purses of the word wealthy Elizabethan poets and playwrights.
Trust me, Will Shakespeare won’t complain if you quote him. Then listen to others who are
talking Elizabethan. Take what works and make it thine.
Make Merrie!
Be creative. Have fun. Experiment. Develop a character, a style, an attitude. Remember: Trial
and Error is your friend. And be assured: With every line thou utterest, thou wilt sound more
and more the better.
WHO AM I TALKING TO? (Titles & Greetings – Social Classes)
It is easy to say hello and good-bye in the manner of Olde England. Simply pick a phrase and
add a title. Titles are provided for royalty, nobility, middle class and peasant. Of course,
21st century phrases such as Later, dude or What’s up Doc? Should be avoided like the plague
(which, by the way was a pretty serious threat back then.) Regardless of YOUR social class, this
is how to address others:
Time
Phrase
Title
Social Class
Morning
Good morrow
your majesty
The queen
Give you good morrow your grace
Afternoon
God give you good morrow
my lord
God ye good morrow
my lady
Good day
Give you good day
Nobility
noble sir
noble madam
God give you good day sir
God ye good den
Evening
Good even
Middle class
madam
& peasant
master
Give you good even
Master John
God give you good even
mistress
God ye good e’en
Mistress Mary
Glad to see you!
Well met…!
Master Smith
How ya’ doin?
How now…!
Mistress Smith
See you later.
I shall see you anon
Goodman Jones
Anon
Goodwife Jones
Goody Jones
Good-bye
God be with you
maid
unmarried girl or woman
Good keep you
wench
peasant girl or woman
God save you
mother
older peasant woman
Fare you well
gammer
grandmotherly peasant
Farewell
father
older peasant man
Adieu
gaffer
grandfatherly peasant
THEES and THOUS
Thou is the informal, or familiar, way to say you. It is used to address either social inferiors or
your intimates…people such as your spouse, close friends, children, servants, employees,
persons you are insulting, non-horse beasts, inanimate objects, and God.
When using thou, verbs generally change by adding –t or –st to the end:
Are  Art
Thou art a grinning jack-an-apes and my true love.
Do  Dost
What dost thou think?
Drink  Drinkest
Drinkest thou here the finest of ales.
Eat  Eatest
Thou eatest more than any three men.
Go  Goest
Where goest thou so soon?
Have  Hast
What hast thou?
Make  Makest
Thou makest a good friend and a fearsome enemy
Say  Sayest
Sayest that thou dost love me.
Shall  Shalt
Thou shalt eat, drink, and merry be!
Walk  Walkest
Thou walkest as a man in his cups.
Will  Wilt
Thou wilt stay awhile. Wilt thou walk with me?
Thee is generally the object of a sentence. In other words, thee receives the action. It is used
when you mean to say: of, for, with, by or to thou.
I do thank thee, fair lass
We do have fine ales for thee.
I would a word with thee, sweet wench.
I do desire to sit beside thee.
Thy and thine are the equivalent of your.
Thy is used before words beginning with a consonant:
Thy music is most well played.
I want to hold thy hands.
Thine is used before words beginning with a vowel:
Thine apples are the finest.
Let me stare into thine eyes.
You is considered a formal word. It is used to address social superiors and strangers to whom
you wish to be polite…people such as the Queen, your employer, your parents, those above you
in rank, those you are flattering, and horses.
Ye is usually the plural of you in formal situations.
Hear Ye! Hear ye!
Come all ye faithful.
Ye is sometimes a shortened form of you as in God ye good morrow (God grant you a good
morning). It never means the as in Ye Olde Antique Shoppe.
Pronunciation (Sounds)
WANT: You, as an American, probably pronouce this word as “waunt,” but in Elizabethan
times the a in want was sounded like the a in the words flat, fat, or wax. So want now rhymes
with pant. Likewise, water rhymes with hatter. Try this sound with words like father, salt, air,
was, fall, halt, hark – not aw but aa.
MAKE: In Elizabethan, this word is sounded as “mek”. They tended to use a short e sound
where we use a long a. So take becomes tak, table becomes teble, plate becomes plet. This
sound should be drawn out, like the name of the river Thames: Te-ems.
You can see that the Elizabethans didn’t have the drawling aah sound their well-bred
descendants use. None of that “Faththah, I’d rahthah naht goew to the cahstle,” here!
HEAD: This word is pronounced “haid.” Likewise, dead becomes daid, bread becomes braid,
lead becomes laid. Where have you heard this sound before? In Appalachian America. Why?
Because their ancestors came over from England shortly after Elizabeth’s time. They moved up
into those mountains and stayed there, isolated from the sounds of the rest of the country until
radio and television came along. They preserved the sounds of their ancestors’ speech, just as
they preserved their customes and folklore.
I: This word is pronounced “uh-ee.” Anywhere the long I or y sound occurs in Elizabethan
English, they are pronounced this way. So my is sounded muh-ee, die is duh-ee, fly is fluh-ee.
Avoid the trap of rounding your lips on I and pronouncing it as oi: this is bad vaudeville-stage
Irish.
BIT: This word is unchanged. The short I sound was used then just as it is now. It is still it, still
is still still.
MERCY: Pronounced in modern American as “murcy.” In Elizabethan it was sounded more
like it is written, which makes it come out maircy. Notice the very harrd pronunciation of the
letter r. This is another Elizabethan holdover in American speech. We pronounce our letter r
very clearly, whereas the modern Britons tend to slur and soften it into an ah sound.
With one exception…
Everyone knows how the old English pirates talked, right? “Arr, me hearrties, I be Long John
Silverr and I knows where the trreasurre be…” We think of pirates sounding like that because of
the late Robert Newton, who portrayed Long John Silver so memorably and so often that he
managed to crowd even Wallace Beery out of people’s minds. Everyone since has used
Newton’s particular accent when trying to do a vocal impersonation of a pirate. Think of the
“Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disneyland: wall-to-wall Robert Newton impressions. But
Robert Newton came from a very rural and conservative part of England where the spoken
language hadn’t changed much since Elizabeth’s day. When he was cast as Long John Silver, he
decided to do an old-fashioned voice characterization for the part, so he fell back on the country
accents he’d grown up with.
FAIR: Ai is a dipthong. The a is the flat a as in was, and the I is the Elizabethan uh-ee sound.
Also, the r is very severely pronounced. So the word comes out Faa-er.
NEITHER: EI is another dipthong. Short e, short I: it comes out as nayther.
DAY: Ay, yet another dipthong, this time with the Elizabethan long I and short a. Pronounced
daa-ee.
LORD: The short o is pronounced with considerable lip-rounding, and the sound is drawn out.
Lord becomes lord, word becomes word, come becomes coom, and so on.
DOWN: This vowel combination is pronounced uy-oo, and the word becomes duh-oon. Any
ow or ou sound in Elizabethan is pronounced uh-oo. House, for example, is hu-oose. People in
Canada still preserve this sound (suh-oond); so do people in parts of North Carolina.
CUP: The short u is drawn out and rounded – not uh but ooo. Thus, cup becomes coop, up
becomes oop, cut becomes coot.
LOVE: Modern America sounds this o as uh, exactly like the short u in cup. But again, the
Elizabethans draw the sound out, and it is pronounced the same way the Beatles pronounced it—
luv.
SWEARING AND INSULTS
Whatever your favorite 21st Century expletive is, it’s a safe bet they didn’t use it in Elizabethan
England. When you are in character, leave the four-letter kind of words out of your speech. As
an Elizabethan, be colorful and creative. A sharp tongue, coupled with a razor wit, were (and
are) powerful and much admired weapons. You may want to be bawdy but you NEVER want to
be obscene.
Modern verbal abuse is pretty monotonous. A few four-letter words in various repeated
combinations are all we seem capable of. But get a load of these examples of invective from
Shakespeare’s day:
Falstaff says, “Rogues, hence, avaunt! Vanish like hailstones go! Trudge, plod away on th’hoof,
seek shelter, pack! And his henchman Pistol retorts: “Let vultures gripe thy guts!”
To a constable: “You blue-bottle rogue, you filthy famished correctioner, you starved
bloodhound.”
General: “You poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate!”
“Away you scullion! You rampallion! You fustalarion!”
“Standest thou there the lyingest knave in Christendom!”
“Thou are a boil, a plague-sore, or embossed carbuncle.”
Swearing – not insult or abuse, but actual oaths to lend force to one’s speech – was widely
practiced. Men swore by:
God’s death
God’s wounds
God’s teeth
Or they swore by the ancient Roman gods and mythic characters, not by the Greek ones. The
English at this time considered the Romans to have been nobler than the Greeks. They also
popularly believed they were descended from the noble Romans, thanks to some imaginative
history written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. There wasn’t any other pagan stuff.
Men also swore by their beards, by their swords, by their honors—all that macho stuff—or by
the tools of their trades, if they were commoners. A smith might swear “By my hammer and
tongs!”
Men and women could swear by the saints, especially their patron saints. The saint they invoked
might depend on the circumstances of the conversation.
Soldier
St. Michael
Patron Saint of soldiers
Bearkeeper
St. Ursula
Patron Saint of men who worked with bears
Archer
St. Sebastian
Patron Saint of arrows
Cook
St. Lawrence
Surgeon
Cosmas & Damian
Musician
St. Cecilia
Find a copy of Lives of the Saints by Butler and dig out some useful saints and attributes to
swear by.
Women did not swear as much; their oaths were fairly mild. A woman might swear by her
honor, or perhaps by her modesty, chastity, or maidenhead.
If your character is obviously lacking in one or all of these, such an oath can be used to very
funny effect. The same would go for a man obviously lacking in beard, sword, or bravery.
Previous vocabulary efforts have given the impression that most of Elizabethan conversation
consisted of insulting or propositioning one another. Mind you, it was a fine language for these
purposes. Mind you, it was a fine language for these purposes; and if you want to specialize in
either of these pastimes you can consult Shakespeare’s Bawdy, a book by Eric Partridge. It goes
in and out of print, but a good library should have a copy.
DON’T and BAD
Don’t use the contraction “ain’t”. It hadn’t developed yet. We think it came in with the
Victorians.
Don’t use the famous exclamation from old Musketeer movies: “Zounds!” The word as it
actually existed was S’wounds!—short for “God’s wounds,” that is, the five fold wounds of
Christ.
Don’t use modern Americanisms such as Yeah, Sure, Nope, Uh-huh, Y’know, Okay. Or
whatever may yet infiltrate our popular language.
Don’t use the word “Sire”. You might address your king as sire, but there isn’t one on the throne
right now. You do not use it as a substitute for sir. Anyway, it sounds medieval.
Don’t use Sirrah. This is not a form of the word sir. It is an insult, and you use it on bad little
boys, lazy servants, and any male you wish to infer is a lying rogue.
Don’t use the word Fellow. Innocent as this word sounds to us, the average Elizabethan male
appears to have felt insulted being addressed merely as fellow. Apparently it had the same
general meaning as dude or pal.
Never drop the beginning “h’s” on words. No ‘Enery, “Iggins, ‘err, thank you very much.
That’s Victorian Cockney.
Never use sh for st sounds. Americans tend to turn a t followed by a y or I sound into a ch
sound, so that “Got you” becomes “gotcha,” “I bet you” becomes “I betcha,” and the word
“Righteous” becomes “Richuss.” Don’t do this! On the whole Elizabethans spoke much more
slowly and clearly than we do.
BAD: “Oi” where you mean to say “uh-ee.”
BAD: “M’lord” where you mean to say “Muh-ee lOUrd”
BAD: “G’day” where you mean “Good Morrow.”
BAD: “Zounds” when you mean to say “S’wounds”
BAD: Dropping “R” like modern British
BAD: Any part of Modern British, Cockney, Australian; Monty Python
BAD: Using BFA in an emergency or urgency situation, or where a guest is in any kind of
distress. Likewise, BFA becomes NFA – No Faire Accent – Backstage
BAD: Leaping from one melodramatic pose to another; shouting about the pleasant weather. If
this BIG stuff gets out of hand, people are going to be annoyed with me for ever mentioning it.
BIG is not HUGE. HUGE is BAD.
DO
Contractions: T’was; T’is; is’t; e’ev (“both,” or even and evening); o’er; ne’er’ t’were. Do not
use modern contractions – say both words instead.
Double negatives and double superlatives, such as “I have not got no shoes,” “The most
unkindest cut of all,” “she is more beautifuller,” were not only correct grammar at this period,
they were considered refined.
The use of be to replace is, am, and are, as in the immortal “I be long John Silver, ar, ar, ar,” or
“We be loyal Englishmen all.”
Gratuitous use of the word do before a verb: “If I do go to the tavern this day, I do think me I
shall meet with thieves.” Or “She did go to market, but did find naught there that did please
her.”
When engaging in conversation, where you might say “So then I said—“ or “So she said to me—
“ you can use the lovely old word quoth. Example: Now Richard,’ quoth I, ‘thous hadst best get
on thy way before daybreak.’ ‘Faith,’ quoth he, ‘only let me sleep another hour.’”
WALK LIKE AN ELIZABETHAN: THE RULE OF BIG
Ok. Sixteenth century English people probably didn’t walk like this, or do any of the other
things recommended in this section, but we should. Why? This is theater. We are being
watched from a distance, all the time, even if we are talking to a friend near at hand. The key
concept here is for our Elizabethan-ness to carry, and for this to happen we must be slightly
larger than life. Just like a tree looks smaller at a distance, so do our actions, posture and
expressions appear smaller from the vantage point of a guest. Remember, in theater
BIG=normal. Act BIG, and you will seem lifesize; act lifesize and you will disappear.
Some BIG things to make yourself appear lifesize:
Good Posture
Shoulders back, head up slightly
Open Posture
Feet shoulder’s width apart, face the audience
Long Arms
Gesture at the full reach of your arms; and DO gesture
Loose Legs
Change distance from the ground and angle of stance
Rubber Face
Exaggerate facial expressions; communicate to people far
away, smile, wink, smirk, raise the eyebrows, open eyes.
10 Foot Voice
Project; not a lot, but talk to people 10 feet away.
Squeak and Growl
Use the full range of your voice to add expressiveness
The ten foot voice is most easily achieved by deepening your tone and raising your volume (from
the diaphragm) slightly. Practiced enough, you may find that it becomes impossible to
demonstrate BFA for a friend at work, say, without your words echoing in such a relatively quiet
place as an office.
Of course, we do not want to appear theatrical at every moment of the Faire. But it is necessary
to be somewhat bigger than life to appear life-size through the hoards of interested visitors. A
useful concept to use is that in environmental theater we can consider our audience to include
everyone within about 10 feet (hence the “10 foot voice”). We always want to play to the back
of the house, the person sitting ten feet away.
One quick note about “gig courtesy;” if something is going on on a stage, or someone is doing a
street gig nearby, it is polite – not to mention good environmental theater – to shrink back to
normal size temporarily so as not to compete. Of course, if you’re invited into the gig to play,
wellll, swell right back up and give ‘em your best BIG self! Just be aware of what is going on
around you, and adjust your volume and size accordingly.
Uh, Uhm, Er & Ulp!
Opening day has arrived! The crowd roils through the front gate like angry water over a dam.
Excited, expectant, (sober) they rush to be entertained (and secretly educated) – to experience the
Elizabethan England we have created for them. Standing by the Maypole you smell cinnamon
buns and horse tourney on the wind. You smile at a small child, who immediately runs at you
laughing, arms overhead. Upon reaching you it shrieks in mirth – and hits you, laughing still.
You spot the brat’s parents ten feet away. One is furiously zooming the video camera, the other
is coming to rescue you, flashing a shrug and wry smile. Clearly, you are expected to say or do
something for the camera, for the parent, for the child. The intense flush of annoyance you feel
has, however, blocked everything you ever learned about BFA. You are speechless, and worse,
caught out of character. Fear not; you can do one or more of the following things:
Smile (BIG)
Wink (Conspiratorially)
Look surprised (BIG)
Laugh (kindly or in pleased surprise)
Gesture, invitingly
Wave
In fact, if you do ALL of these things in approximately this order, even if you never say a word,
you will have both communicated and entertained (not to mention that you will have gracefully
escaped if you walk away as you wave).
These actions are also useful when you can’t stop to chat, even if you have something to say.
For example, while cavorting in a parade or following Her Majesty in stately progress, if you
make eye contact and do any of the above you can bring a guest into the event, rather than
allowing the event to merely pass by. Likewise, walking through the crowd on some errand, one
may not wish to stop and chat, but these simple acts allow quick personal contact with many
quests, and keep us BIG and interesting.
CONVERSATION
People of the sixteenth-century had jobs, family, and friends. They celebrated, played, and fell
in love. They worried about war, the economy, and illness. To initiate a conversation, you need
only:
Seek advice on a personal, business, or domestic problem
Complain about your spouse, relative, friend or master
Discus the Queen’s marriage prospects
Ask someone to mediate an argument
Mistake someone’s identity
Discuss the possibilities of war with Spain
Describe far-off fantastical places that you’ve heard about
Attempt to “sell” something to passers by
Espouse some extreme and comical belief
Tell a story or a joke or ask a riddle
Your Elizabethan speech will truly come alive if it is linked to a characterization and when it is
used in an exchange with another character or an audience. Use speech that is appropriate to
your character’s place in the Elizabethan hierarchy.
The Bottom Rung
If you portray a peasant laborer, shepherd, street monger, seadog, or other character from the
lower ranks of society, be extreme in your use of Elizabethan. Speak with a strong accent. Use
the most colorful grammar and syntax variations. Employ an earthy vocabulary.
Social Climbers
If you portray a middle-class merchant, craft-person, military officer, or well-to-do land holder,
be less extreme in your choices. Speak with a distinct accent but be more judicious in your use
of grammar and syntax variations. For example, you may want to use the gratuitous do before
verbs but avoid replacing am and were with be. Employ an expanded vocabulary, saying
peradventure instead of mayhap. Insert a few classical references and continental influences into
your speech.
Top of the Heap
If you portray a noble person or member of the court, be moderate in your use of grammar and
syntax variations. Avoid the more rustic options. Use a mild accent. Employ a broad
vocabulary, making generous use of classical references and continental influences. Be more
‘genteel’ in your approach to cursing and swearing.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Unfortunately, the best way to develop both verbal and non-verbal communications skills is to
practice. There are three basic things strongly recommended to help you practice:
1.
Read and re-read this guide. In it you will find much good information on actual proper
Elizabethan construction, as well as many nice lists of words. Use that information with the
techniques presented here, and I daresay you will be quite entertaining and historical.
2. Speak the speech away from the Faire. Now I don’t mean annoy your parents or boss by “yea”-ing
and “nay” –ing all week. Again, the car is a good place just to talk to yourself in Elizabethan. At a
loss for words? Read street signs out loud, in BFA. Recite (or sing) modern song lyrics in BFA.
(“I would fain sleep with thee in the desert night…”) You get the idea;
3. Make faces in the mirror. Watch yourself pose and posture and gesture as you speak. Not only
will you better understand what is required to communicate across the ten foot environmental
stage by non-verbal signals, but the more you are used to seeing yourself using your full range of
facial expressions and body English, the sooner you will get over the feeling that you look silly
doing it.
4. CONCLUSION
5. With a little imagination and practice you can translate just about any situation into
sixteenth-century terminology. Not only is it a useful exercise, it’s fun!
Now we’re going to turn you loose with a recommended reading list, most of which consists of
one name: Shakespeare, that great and powerful wizard of words, Will Shakespeare himself.
Read anything you can find by Shakespeare, but in particular study the language of his common
people: the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (and in fact all the servants in that play); Bottom and the
other laborers in Midsummer Night’s Dream; the gravedigger in Hamlet. And Shakespeare’s
best play of all is The Merry Wives of Windsor.
It certainly wouldn’t hurt to become familiar with the works of other Elizabethan poets and
playwrights such as Ben Jonson (The Alchemist: Bartholomew Faire; Volpone), Christopher
Marlowe (Doctor Faustus), Thomas Dekker (The Shoemaker’s Holiday), Robert Greene (Friar
Bacon and Friar Bungay). It is also worth locating a copy of Gammer Gurton’s Needle by an
anonymous “Mr. S” and the Anatomie of Abuses by the puritan, Phillip Stubbes.
It’s not about ancient Romans or Italian noblemen or princes of Denmark. It’s about ordinary
English people living in a little country town, about the year 1574. They’re all excited because
the court is staying nearby! Meanwhile life goes on as usual: servants gossip, housewives worry
about their children, young lovers sneak off to woo, the village doctor has gotten into a quarrel
with the village schoolmaster; and at the village tavern a certain fat and disreputable old knight is
wracking his brains for a way to pay his bar bill.
Nearly any character you could wish to play at Faire is here: simple countryman, honest
merchants, fops and fools, liars and rogues, wise and witty ladies, servants and nobleman. Each
is drawn in detail for your study, each one with her or his own distinctive way of speaking.
You’ll find it incredibly useful. It’s also a funny play, full of practical jokes.
Here are some other books and videos you may find useful:
BOOKS:
The Portable Elizabethan Reader, published by Viking Portable Library
The King James version of the bible
English Life in Tudor Times, by Roger Hart
Shakespeare of London, by Marchette Chute
A Visual Guide to Shakespeare’s Life and Times, by Louis B. Wright and Elaine Fowler
The England of Elizabeth by A.L. Rowse
Lost Country Life by Dorothy Hartlett
The Story of English by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil
A Shakespeare Glossary by C.T. Onions (revised by Robert D. Eagleson)
Shakespeare’s Bawdy by Eric Partridge, Routledge, London & New York
Shakespeare’s Book of Insults, Insights, & Infinite Jests by John W. Seder
Shakespeare’s Insults by Wayne F. Hill & Cynthia J. Ottchen
Brush up Your Shakespeare! By Michael Macrone
The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way by Bill Bryson
Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, by M. St. Claire Byrne
The Elizabethan Renaissance, by A.L. Rowse
The Elizabethan World by Lacy Baldwin Smith
Elizabethans at Home by Lu Emily Pearson
The England of Elizabeth by A. L. Rowse.
Lost Country Life by Dorothy Hartley
The Elizabethan Journals by G. B. Harrison
Every One a Witness: The Tudor Age by A. F. Scott
Life in Shakespeare’s England by J. D. Wilson
The New Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse by Emrys Jones
The Portable Elizabethan Reader by Hiram Hayd
Latin for Scholars, Clerks and the overtly pretentious
Amo, Amas, Amat and More by Eugene Ehrlich
The Anchor Book of Latin Quotations by Norbert Gutterman
Latin for All Occasions by Henery Beard
VIDEOS:
Much of Shakespeare has been translated into motion pictures and television features and
is available on video tape for the home. Also on video tape are other films that feature the
language in a documentary or dramatic context. It doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on your local
Public Television station (PBS) as they often run many of our suggestions. Don’t miss the
British Broadcasting Company (BBC) Shakespeare series if it runs again.
Excalibur, John Boorman; Nicol Williamson, Patrick Stewart
Long John Silver, Goodtimes Video; Robert Newton
Treasure Island, Disney with Robert Newton
The Story of English, PBS
The Six Wives of Henry VIII, BBC
Elizabeth R, BBC
Shakespeare:
Much Ado About Nothing, Kenneth Branaugh; Emma Thompson
Hamlet, Franco Zeffirelli; Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Ian Holm
Henry V, Laurence Olivier
Henry V, Kenneth Branaugh
Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli, Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey
The Taming of the Shrew, Franco Zeffirelli; Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
Richard III, Laurence Olivier
Available at video stores are numerous other versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Video purchase of
some items is available at the time of writing from such catalogs as Signals (public television
stations), Wireless (public radio stations), the Shakespeare Catalog (The Writing Company,
Culver City, California), and some other video catalogs. They may also be available at your
local public library, or on the Internet from places such as Amazon.com.