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Good evening,A question from the French equivalent of this newsgroup (If you trip on an unknown word when reading an original text by Shakespeare, would you have a good chance of finding that word in a (good) contemporary dictionary? or would you need a special dictionary?I tested that with "beteem" (you know: "So loving to my mother/That he might not beteem the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly") and a Britannica: failure. But my sample is definitely too small.Already many thanks for your kind attention.Pierre Hallet (Brussels)

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[nq:1]A question from the French equivalent of this newsgroup ( If you trip on an unknown word when reading an ... the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly") and a Britannica: failure. But my sample is definitely too small.[/nq]
This is a faintly mysterious question, but to answer what you have asked: there is a good chance that you will find such "literary" words in larger (and older) dictionaries. In this case, "beteem" is apparently also used by Spenser, and is thus included in my old (1972) Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary. It is also found at: / .

It is a good idea to have a specialised dictionary, such as David Crystal & Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion (2004).

But it is really essential to use annotated modern texts, such as the separate volumes (one per play) from the Arden Shakespeare, Oxford Shakespeare or Cambridge Shakespeare series. These give texts that have been modernised in spelling, but not in vocabulary, and explain unusual words.

John Briggs

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[nq:1]Good evening, A question from the French equivalent of this newsgroup ( If you trip on an unknown word when ... have a good chance of finding that word in a (good) contemporary dictionary? or would you need a special dictionary?[/nq]
I think you'd need a pretty good dictionary. Most of the words used by Shakespeare are still in use (perhaps because of him) some aren't though or have changed their meaning.
[nq:1]I tested that with "beteem" (you know: "So loving to my mother/That he might not beteem the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly") and a Britannica: failure. But my sample is definitely too small.[/nq]
Quite ;-)

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[nq:1]Good evening, A question from the French equivalent of this newsgroup ( If you trip on an unknown word when ... the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly") and a Britannica: failure. But my sample is definitely too small.[/nq]
"beteem" is definitely in Chambers, where it's annotatied as being used both by Spenser and Shakespeare.
I would recommend "The Chambers Dictionary"(1) as the best single-volume dictionary that will contain archaic words invented by Shakespeare, as well as most modern coinages.
(I believe I read once that Shakespeare invented and/or introduced many thousands of new words to "common" use in English; in which case "his" words probably outnumber ALL those English words known to many native speakers!)
(1) As it's nowadays entitled: whatever you do, don't waste your money on "Chambers Twenty-first Century Dictionary"; it bears about as much resemblence to the "real" Chambers as COD does to OED.
Brian {Hamilton Kelly} (Email Removed) "Je n'ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte."
Blaise Pascal, /Lettres Provinciales/, 1657

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[nq:1]Good evening, A question from the French equivalent of this newsgroup ( If you trip on an unknown word when ... the winds of heaven/ Visit her face too roughly") and a Britannica: failure. But my sample is definitely too small.[/nq]
It's in OED, with three meanings and citations between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.
I'd be very surprised if OED missed out on any word used by Shakespeare.

Mike Stevens
narrowboat Felis Catus II
Web site www.mike-stevens.co.uk
No man is an island. So is Man.

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