Key Terms for Early Modern English

These terms and dates form part of the discussion of the readings for this section, and you should become familiar with them. You can find them defined separately in the Glossary in the back of our textbook, as well as the online glossary on this site. Some of these terms may also come from our lectures, supplementary readings, and workbook exercises for the unit. You may find it helpful to continually refer back to this list as you progress through the material and lectures of this unit.

Great Vowel Shift (Tudor Vowel Shift)
etymological respelling
his-genitive
group genitive
polite pronoun forms
loss of final -e
Latinate diction
humanism

1450-1700 Great Vowel Shift
1588 Spanish Armada
1611 King James Bible
1616 William Shakespeare
1700 John Dryden