Archaism - Wikipedia Archaism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (March 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In language, an archaism (from the Ancient Greek: ἀρχαϊκός, archaïkós, 'old-fashioned, antiquated', ultimately ἀρχαῖος, archaîos, 'from the beginning, ancient') is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a historical epoch long beyond living memory, but that has survived in a few practical settings or affairs. Lexical archaisms are single archaic words or expressions used regularly in an affair (e.g. religion or law) or freely; literary archaism is the survival of archaic language in a traditional literary text such as a nursery rhyme or the deliberate use of a style characteristic of an earlier age—for example, in his 1960 novel The Sot-Weed Factor, John Barth writes in an 18th-century style.[1] Archaic words or expressions may have distinctive emotional connotations—some can be humorous (forsooth), some highly formal (What say you?), and some solemn (With thee do I plight my troth). A distinction between archaic and obsolete words and word senses is widely used by dictionaries. An archaic word or sense is one that still has some current use but whose use has dwindled to a few specialized contexts, outside which it connotes old-fashioned language. In contrast, an obsolete word or sense is one that is no longer used at all. A reader encounters them when reading texts that are centuries old. For example, the works of Shakespeare are old enough that some obsolete words or senses are encountered therein, for which glosses (annotations) are often provided in the margins. Archaisms can either be used deliberately (to achieve a specific effect) or as part of a specific jargon (for example in law) or formula (for example in religious contexts). Many nursery rhymes contain archaisms. Some archaisms called fossil words remain in use within certain fixed expressions despite having faded away in all other contexts (for example, vim is not used in normal English outside the set phrase vim and vigor). An outdated form of language is called archaic. In contrast, a language or dialect that contains many archaic traits (archaisms) relative to closely related languages or dialects spoken at the same time is called conservative. Contents 1 Usage 2 Examples 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Usage[edit] Archaisms are most frequently encountered in history, poetry, fantasy literature, law, philosophy, science, technology, geography and ritual writing and speech. Archaisms are kept alive by these ritual and literary uses and by the study of older literature. Should they remain recognised, they can potentially be revived. Because they are things of continual discovery and re-invention, science and technology have historically generated forms of speech and writing which have dated and fallen into disuse relatively quickly. However, the emotional associations of certain words have kept them alive, for example: 'Wireless' rather than 'Radio' for a generation of British citizens who lived through the Second World War, even though the older word 'wireless' is an archaism, and in recent years the term has gained renewed popularity. A similar desire to evoke a former age means that archaic place names are frequently used in circumstances where doing so conveys a political or emotional subtext, or when the official new name is not recognised by all (for example: 'Madras' rather than 'Chennai'). So, a restaurant seeking to conjure up historic associations might prefer to call itself Old Bombay or refer to Persian cuisine in preference to using the newer place name. A notable contemporary example is the name of the airline Cathay Pacific, which uses the archaic Cathay ("China"). Archaisms are frequently misunderstood, leading to changes in usage. One example is found in the phrase "the odd man out", which originally came from the phrase "to find the odd man out", where the verb "to find out" has been split by its object "the odd man", meaning the item which does not fit. The object + split verb has been reinterpreted as a noun + adjective, such that "out" describes the man rather than any verb. The compound adverbs and prepositions found in the writing of lawyers (e.g. heretofore, hereunto, thereof) are examples of archaisms as a form of jargon. Some phraseologies, especially in religious contexts, retain archaic elements that are not used in ordinary speech in any other context: "With this ring I thee wed." Archaisms are also used in the dialogue of historical novels in order to evoke the flavour of the period. Some may count as inherently funny words and are used for humorous effect. Examples[edit] A type of archaism is the use of thou, the second-person singular pronoun that fell out of general use in the 17th century, while you or ye, formerly only used to address groups, and then also to respectfully address individuals, is now used to address both individuals and groups. Thou is the nominative form; the oblique/objective form is thee (functioning as both accusative and dative), and the possessive is thy or thine. Though thou hast ever so many counsellors, yet do not forsake the counsel of thy own soul.[2] — English proverb Today me, tomorrow thee.[3] — English proverb The meaning of this proverb is that something that happens to a person, is likely to eventually happen to another who observes it, especially if the two people are similar. To thine own self be true.[4] —William Shakespeare The meaning of this saying is simply that it is unwise to lie to yourself. In its contemporary context it meant to be true (loyal, faithful, supportive) to one's own interests (the 'self' of person, property, and goals). In other words, put yourself before others. Archaisms in proverbs are often retained, far longer than in other parts of the language. This is because they make the proverbs "fall easier on the tongue",[5] and also because of the rhetorical effect they evoke by the use of two of the four fundamental operations in rhetoric. Namely, permutation (immutatio) and addition (adiectio).[6] See also[edit] Anachronism Fossil word Historical linguistics Legal English Linguistic conservatism List of alternative country names List of archaic technological nomenclature Neologism Thou Ye Olde References[edit] ^ Thomas Burns McArthur; Roshan McArthur (2005). Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-19-280637-6. Retrieved 4 September 2013. ^ Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European Proverbs. Volume 2. Routledge. p. 1044. ISBN 0415096243. ^ Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European Proverbs. Volume 2. Routledge. p. 1038. ISBN 0415096243. ^ Polonius, Hamlet, scene III ^ David John Allerton; Nadja Nesselhauf; Paul Skandera (2004). Phraseological Units: Basic Concepts and Their Application. Schwabe Verlag Basel. p. 80. ISBN 978-3-7965-1949-9. Retrieved 4 September 2013. ^ "АРХАИКА". Медиаэнциклопедия ИЗО. External links[edit] Archaism entry in the UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology Authority control GND: 4139554-2 NDL: 00577107 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archaism&oldid=995059051" Categories: Archaic words and phrases Lexicology Hidden categories: Articles that may contain original research from March 2009 All articles that may contain original research Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Afrikaans العربية Asturianu Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎ Български Català Čeština Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Ido Interlingua Italiano ქართული Қазақша Кыргызча Latviešu Lietuvių Magyar Македонски Nederlands 日本語 Нохчийн Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча Polski Português Română Русский Саха тыла Shqip سنڌي Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Sunda Svenska Татарча/tatarça Türkçe Українська Walon 吴语 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 December 2020, at 00:35 (UTC). 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