With any spoken language over time it changes. The three major changes are phonology (pronunciation) semantics (meaning) and word order.
Words were very much pronounced the way they were written. With the onset of modern English more and simplified words were introduced. Words derived from Latin, such as difficult or complicated can be introduced by the modern day word – easy. But why is the “s” in easy pronounced as a “z” but in greasy pronounced as a “c”. Food with double O in the middle is pronounced differently to the double O in good. Pronunciation plays a big part in understanding and can be misleading, but it is the semantics of “Shakespearean English” that creates the biggest problem.
For example, in Act III of “Hamlet” when Ophelia tells Hamlet, “You are naught, you are naught,” which would be seen today as the modern day word –naughty. I think she means more than a misbehaving child. The word naught means “having nothing”. People who “had nothing” had to engage in “naughty” behaviours, such as prostitution and petty crimes, that were regarded as poor behaviour but under the circumstances, forgivable. Look to our own times for examples of words that have changed their meanings. For example, the word “bad” has lost its original negative meaning (in some contexts) to mean something quite the opposite.
Sometimes words simply disappear. Shakespeare’s language frequently used a lot of “thou,” “thee,” and “ye.” These three words were all forms of the one word we use today – you. Why did Shakespeare use these words and what happened to them?
“Thou” is the subject pronoun: Thou shall feel my wrath.
“thee” was the object pronoun: I’ll give thee this plague …
“ye” was the plural: Both ye have seen too much.
These three pronouns were all replaced by the pronoun “you.”
Old English had a lot of inversion (irregular word order) The normal word order in a modern English sentence is subject + verb + rest. Shakespeare and old English frequently invert that order for stylistic reasons, creating interest, variety and emphasis when needed. A simple example might be:
Old English: Never have I seen such a sight. (Notice the inversion in the beginning)
Modern Day English: I have never seen such a sight.
There is far more emphasis and power felt in the first than in the second sentence.
For example, Horatio responds to Marcellus’ demand for information with “That can I.” A modern day reader would expect to see “I can”
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