Key—Translating Shakespeare

1. Translating the Second Person Pronouns:

 “Thou” for "you" (nominative, as in "Thou hast risen.")

 “Thee” for "you" (objective, as in "I give this to thee.")
 “Ye” = you (subject, plural) e.g. "Ye all came forth from the room."
 “Thy” for "your" (genitive, as in "Thy dagger floats before thee.")
 “Thine” for "yours" (possessive, as in "What's mine is thine.")

Sometimes he uses both “you” and “thy” in the same speech. This is simply because in Tudor
England the older generation said “thee” and “thy” to denote a status or reverence for
authority. Therefore when addressing a king the older “thou” and “thy” would be used,
leaving the newer “you” and “your” for more informal occasions.

2. Doth and Dost: “Doth” and “dost” are generally used as auxiliary verbs; “doeth” and
“doest” are generally used as main verbs. Dost/doest= do doth/doeth= does

Other common words: art = are, 'ere = before, hast = have, 'tis = it is, 'twas = it was, wast =
were, whence = from where, wherefore = why, hence = from here, oft = often, yea = even, ay =
yes, aught = anything, yon/yonder = that one there, would (he were) = I wish (he were), nay =
no, hie = hurry

3. Don’t, Do, and Did: A key absence from Shakespearian English is “don’t”. This word
simply wasn’t around then. So, if you said “don’t be afraid” to a friend in Tudor England,
you would have said, “be not afeard.” Where today we would say “don’t hurt me,”
Shakespeare would have said, “hurt me not.” The words “do” and “did” were also
uncommon, so rather than saying “what did he look like?” Shakespeare would have said,
“what looked he like?” And instead of “did she stay long?” Shakespeare would have said,
“stayed she long?” This difference accounts for the unfamiliar word order in some
Shakespearian sentences.
4. Understand contracted words: Shakespeare often used contracted words in order to fit his
meter and rhyme scheme. If you see that apostrophe mark, it almost always means a letter is
missing. So, if you’re having difficulties understanding what a contracted word, you can
often use context clues to determine the meaning.

Here are some that frequently appear in Shakespeare’s work:

 Be’t = be it
 Do’t = do it
 Know’st = know it
 ‘Tis = it is
  O’er = over

5. Reword inverted sentence: Most of the sentences we’re familiar with will start with a
subject followed by a verb. Shakespeare’s sentences sometimes do not follow this simple word
order. Therefore, rewording Shakespeare’s sentences to place the subject first may help you gain
a better understanding of what is being stated.

For example: “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, / And often is his gold complexion
dimm’d[.]”(5-6) - “Sonnet 18”
We can rearrange the sentence above to the following: “Sometimes the eye of heaven shines too
hot, and his gold complexion is often dimmed.”
6. Phrases from Romeo and Juliet:
 against the hair: or, as we say, "against the grain," a metaphor from brushing the hair
of an animal the opposite way to which it lies.
 aimed so near: guessed as much.
 amerce: punish/absence of mercy
 atomies: miniature beings
 behoveful: necessary
 bite my thumb: an insulting gesture in Shakespeare's time
 bite thee by the ear: a term of endearment/expressing love
 cank'red, cankered: rusty
 chinks: cash (from the clatter of the coins)
 chop-logic: one who bandies logic; one who exchanges trivial points of logic
 conceit: imaginings, nightmares
 corse: corpse
 crochets: whims
 crush a cup: a common colloquial expression in Elizabethan English comparable to
"crack open a bottle."
 date is out: it is no longer the fashion
 dateless: everlasting
 dear account: sad reckoning. In Elizabethan English the word "dear" intensified the
meaning -- you could have a "dear friend" and a "dear enemy."
 dry sorrow (drinks our blood): another old belief, that sorrow caused people to go
pale through lack of blood.
 dun's the mouse: a slang Elizabethan phrase meaning "Keep quiet."
 elflocks: when dirty hair became clotted together it was superstitiously put down to
elves, hence "elflocks."
 Ethiop's: Negro, as used by Shakespeare, not Ethiopian in its narrower sense.
 eyes' windows: eyelids
 fain: glad, gladly, willingly.
 fleer: scorn, or mock at.
 gleek: jest, mock
 God-den: good evening, a contraction of the fuller "God give you a good even."
 grace for grace: favor in return for favor.
 hams: knees
 high-lone: quite alone
 hilding: a good-for-nothing
 hold carelessly: think little of someone
 holp: archaic form of helped
 ill-divining: foreboding evil.
 ladybird: a term of endearment, similar to "lamb."
 marchpane: confectionery made of almond paste, sugar, and marzipan
 marry: an oath, by (the Virgin) Mary! but in effect no stronger than "indeed."
 mewed up to her heaviness: encased in her grief.
 much unfurnished: not ready
 of wax: i.e., as handsome as if he had been modeled in wax, finer than men usually
are
 pennyworths: small quantities (of sleep)
 pout'st upon: treat with contempt.
 prorogued: adjourned (postponed).
 put up our pipes: pack up
 rest you merry: a colloquial term of farewell, comparable to our "All the best!"
 scant show well: scarcely appear attractive
 slug-abed: lit. slug in a bed, i.e., lazy creature
 tetchy: fretful, peevish
 trencher: wooden plate, lit. one to cut food upon
 unbound: free
 untaught: unmannerly, ignorant
 unthrifty: unlucky
 vestal livery: virgin uniform
 wilt: must