In the early 1600s, English began to spread around the world as speakers searched for new trading partners and new places to settle. Through that process, English become an international language, but as English speakers encountered people and languages in distant places, they sometimes became confused. That confusion and uncertainty shaped the English language during this period. In this episode, we explore early English loanwords from North America, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and the first English trading post in India.
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I’m in a whirled of confusion because I figured you would have found a way to close with the famous final scene in Shakespeare in Love where Viola sails off to Virginia.
The term “New World”, for the Western Hemisphere, goes all the way back to Amerigo Vespucci’s “Mundus Novus” in the early 16th century. In English, “New World” in this sense, seems to date from the 1550’s. As you mention, in _The Tempest_ Shakespeare seems to have been inspired by that ship running agound in Bermuda. Therefore, isn’t it reasonable to think that when Shakespeare has Miranda say “O brave new world”, he might have had the “Western Hemisphere” idea in mind?
I enjoyed the bit about the placement of prepositions. Thanks for that!
I cannot find the transcript. Did you upload it??
I just added it.
Thanks! Got it!
Hi Kevin, I was thinking about the way Americans frame a question. We commonly say “how come” rather than saying “why”. Any thoughts on how that evolved? Is it technically bad English?
Steve,
Funny you should mention “How come..?” I am a content editor of mostly educational materials. In reviewing and editing questions, I common replace “How come” with “Why.” However, I do not think that most of these authors are native English speakers. Rather, many of those who make this “error” (I think of “How come…?” as informal and inappropriate for academic writing) are tremendously influenced by watching American TV and movies, as I see a LOT of informality (I am guessing here).
I believe there is an error: Nattering Nabobs of Negativism was uttered by VICE president Spirow Agnew.. Not the president.
Yes. It was a slip of the tongue. I just left out the word ‘vice’ when reading the script.
And… Just to give the “nattering nabob of negativism” William Safire the credit that is his due – he wrote the phrase; see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Safire
This episode certainly made clear the questions I had regarding the origin of the word Indian to describe American Indians and much much more !!
Thanks Professor for another eradiate journey through time and the globe.
Thank you. I have family in a part of the country that refers to green peppers as mangoes, and I have always been perplexed as to where it came from. My grandmother would have used the word mango 70 years ago and I know for certain that she would never have encountered the fruit. So now know where that came from. Thank you for solving that mystery for me.
Great episode, especially the bit about “Mr Vision”.