Etymology and the Invention of English in Early Modern Literature

Author:   Hannah Crawforth (King's College London)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
ISBN:  

9781107614550


Pages:   232
Publication Date:   01 December 2016
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Etymology and the Invention of English in Early Modern Literature


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Overview

How did authors such as Jonson, Spenser, Donne and Milton think about the past lives of the words they used? Hannah Crawforth shows how early modern writers were acutely attuned to the religious and political implications of the etymology of English words. She argues that these lexically astute writers actively engaged with the lexicographers, Anglo-Saxonists and etymologists who were carrying out a national project to recover, or invent, the origins of English, at a time when the question of a national vernacular was inseparable from that of national identity. English words are deployed to particular effect – as a polemical weapon, allegorical device, coded form of communication, type of historical allusion or political tool. Drawing together early modern literature and linguistics, Crawforth argues that the history of English as it was studied in the period radically underpins the writing of its greatest poets.

Full Product Details

Author:   Hannah Crawforth (King's College London)
Publisher:   Cambridge University Press
Imprint:   Cambridge University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.350kg
ISBN:  

9781107614550


ISBN 10:   1107614554
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   01 December 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

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Reviews

'... what [Crawforth] delivers most of all is an intriguing, compelling, wonderfully considered account of the linguistic worlds of early modern writers, with their special awareness of the soft and hard landings words have in the world.' Raphael Lyne, The Cambridge Quarterly '... in addition to opening several fruitful avenues for future scholarly work, Crawforth has done readers one other service. By focusing on authors' systematic use of etymology, she shows us that Renaissance poets imagined the study of word origins, a philological and humanistic study, as, more than anything, a practical approach to the world.' Ryan Netzley, Milton Quarterly


'... what [Crawforth] delivers most of all is an intriguing, compelling, wonderfully considered account of the linguistic worlds of early modern writers, with their special awareness of the soft and hard landings words have in the world.' Raphael Lyne, The Cambridge Quarterly


'... what [Crawforth] delivers most of all is an intriguing, compelling, wonderfully considered account of the linguistic worlds of early modern writers, with their special awareness of the soft and hard landings words have in the world.' Raphael Lyne, The Cambridge Quarterly '... in addition to opening several fruitful avenues for future scholarly work, Crawforth has done readers one other service. By focusing on authors' systematic use of etymology, she shows us that Renaissance poets imagined the study of word origins, a philological and humanistic study, as, more than anything, a practical approach to the world.' Ryan Netzley, Milton Quarterly ... what [Crawforth] delivers most of all is an intriguing, compelling, wonderfully considered account of the linguistic worlds of early modern writers, with their special awareness of the soft and hard landings words have in the world. Raphael Lyne, The Cambridge Quarterly '... in addition to opening several fruitful avenues for future scholarly work, Crawforth has done readers one other service. By focusing on authors' systematic use of etymology, she shows us that Renaissance poets imagined the study of word origins, a philological and humanistic study, as, more than anything, a practical approach to the world.' Ryan Netzley, Milton Quarterly


Author Information

Hannah Crawforth is a lecturer in Early Modern Literature at King's College London, where she is also one of the founding members of the London Shakespeare Centre. She has published articles in a range of journals and edited collections, and is textual editor for the Norton Shakespeare's new edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen.

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