Happy "NEW" Year

Happy New Year to all you Shakespeare fans and those who just enjoy learning a new word.  Shakespeare paired the word "new" with many other words to create fresh dialogue. Among some fun pairings, include:

• new-enkindled: Shakespeare used this to mean freshly lit. You can find this phrase in King John (Act 4, Scene 2) where it reads, "With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire."

• new-fangled: Shakespeare used this to mean distracted by new things in As You Like It (Act 4 Scene) when Rosalind "as Ganymede" says to Orlando, "More new-fangled than an ape."

• new-ta'en: Shakespeare used this to mean freshly caught, just captured. You can find this phrase in Troilus and Cressida (Act 3 Scene 2) where Pandarus says to Troilus, "She fetches her breadth as short as a new-ta'en sparrow.

Among many other "new" words found in Shakespeare's works, includes new-tuned (Henry V) meaning freshly coined, fashionable; new-found (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) meaning recently invented, freshly created; and new-begot (Henry VI) meaning newly acquired, freshly obtained.