The Canterbury Tales
Today, I decided to read The Canterbury Tales. The reason that I chose to read this book is because I have a huge interest in medieval Europe. Especially medieval art, poetry and similar culture. Another thing that intrigues me is learning about the lives, thoughts and ideas that the people of the past had, comparing it to the mindset we have today. How we changed, or if we even changed at all.
I naturally read through the introduction of The Canterbury Tales, written by a man called Nevill Coghill of Exeter college sometime during the 50's.
I was astonished by the colorful language that he applies. I already knew that English is a huge language, but over the 4 pages long introduction I stumbled upon some 20 words that I have never or rarely seen before. Here are a few examples:
Tenuous
Perpetuate
Parish
Adorn
Covet
Intermittent
Encumbered
Colloquy
Rectify
Perennial
Progeny
So my question is, can even a native adult English speaker understand and apply these words correctly without the use of a dictionary? Or am I right that these words are highly academical and obscure?
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 11
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Tolkien did good work with Beowulf and was instrumental in promoting the poetry of it (metaphors like cloud-headed, and whale-road :) - please keep writing about these new words, everyone who loves English will enjoy reading! Also, i went back into the beginning of King Hereafter last night, you need to add this to your list as well. Dunnett is a very careful researcher and the book is very well-written, you can trust her for rich vocabulary and she'll show you Thorfinn doing Olaf Tryggvasson's oar trick. If you want something lighter, look into Nancy Farmer's trilogy 'Sea of Trolls'.
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Thank you very much for you comment Pia. Since writing this entry, my list of word has been extended by almost a hundred (and I haven't even gotten that far)! Either archaic, formal or specialized words related to Christianity and so forth. Thank you for recommending me books! I was planning to read some of Tolkien's lesser known litterature after Chaucer, but I changed my mind. Now I'm going to read Beowulf instead! :)
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Hei Henrik! It's wonderful that you're reading Chaucer and a treat to see a discussion about these words on italki! I agree with the other commenters, even for an English literature major, the word colloquy is not one you'll come across in daily speech, it's reserved for an academic context, in US business English we would say 'convention' or 'user group' and sometimes symposium if we want to sound fancy. But, if you enjoy Chaucer (my favorite has always been the wife of Bath!), and you would like to read something inspired by the Canterbury tales that is historical fiction, where the author employs the same procession of different people in their societal roles, check out Ariana Franklin's 'Mistress of the art of death'. It's less scholarly, but you'll see 12th century England and gain an appreciation for Henry Plantagenet. If you want something more serious that will travel into your own anglo-saxon origins, read Beowulf - also, Dorothy Dunnett wrote a great book about the historical origins of Shakespeare's MacBeth, King Hereafter. Happy reading!
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That's very interesting Mike, thank you for your comment.
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I'd second what celeriac says about the words in the list and how likely they are to be recognized. Most are not obscure. I think every word but "colloquy" has come up for me in some conversation at one time or another, and in every case, the speaker expected that the listeners would understand. "colloquy" is the only word in that list I've never heard of or seen in print. The adjective "colloquial" from "colloquy" is common enough that many English readers would be expected to read and understand it, though.
If you get a chance, listen to a record of someone reading Chaucer in Middle English! Even words with modern-looking spellings often sound very different from Modern English.
Jim: You asked about 'parish' in American English/culture. In case you're curious, 'parish' isn't much used in the US outside a Christian religious context. The US state of Louisiana is one exception to that. Louisiana uses the word 'parish' to describe the units of local government just below the state-wide government. Most other US states use the word 'county' instead.
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