Glossary
This glossary includes helpful vocabulary and allusions that will deepen your understanding of the words and worlds of The Taming of the Shrew.
| WORD/PHRASE | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
“…Aeacides was Ajax, call’d so from his Grandfather” | Lucentio is mistaken here: Aecides refers not to Ajax, but Achilles. Shakespeare includes this for comedic affect, since Lucentio is saying “mistrust it not, for it’s as true as…” this untrue statement. |
| Amort | (adj) Sick to death, dispirited; from French à la mort |
| Argosy | (n) Largest merchant vessel, originally one from Ragusa, Sicily (in Italy), hence the name |
| Arras counterpoints | (n) Bedcovers of Arras tapestry, a rich fabric woven with figures and scenes, commonly used as wall-hangings |
| Begnawn with the bots | (adj) Bitten by intestinal worms |
| Cavil | (n) A petty or unnecessary objection |
| Chide | (v) To scold or chastise |
| Choler/choleric | (noun/adj) Bad-tempered or irritable; medical beliefs of the time believed that overcooked meat was thought to produce an excess of bile, which, in turn, caused anger |
| Construe | (v) To translate a passage from an ancient author |
| Continency | (n) Self-control |
| Coxcomb | (n) A professional fool’s cap, often bird or animal-like; also sexually suggestive (Kate says, “What is your crest? A coxcomb?” and Petruchio’s response is “A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.”) |
| Cozen | (v) To cheat |
| Craven | (n) A coward |
| Crupper of velure | (n) A strap passed under the horse’s tail to hold the saddle steady, made of a velvet-like fabric. |
| Currish | (adj) Doglike, aggressive (a curr is a vicious dog) |
| Custard-coffin | (n) Pastry crust in which a custard could be baked; perhaps a play on “costard,” which literally means “apple,” but is slang for “head” |
| Dian | (n) Diana, Roman goddess of hunting and chastity |
| Dissemble | (v) To conceal one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs |
| Extempore | (adj) Spoken or done without preparation |
| Farthingales | (n) Wide-hooped petticoats, which made skirts stand out from the body |
| Flotentius, Sibyl, Socrates’ Xanthippe | Characters in John Gower’s Confessio Amantis; Florent agrees to marry an old hag to save his life, and she is later transformed into a young beauty; Sibyl is an aged prophetess granted as many years of life as there are grains in a handful of sand; Xanthippe is Socrates’s notoriously bad-tempered wife |
| Forsworn | (v) To agree to give up or do without |
| Froward | (adj) Remarkably stubborn, willful, ungovernable |
| Fustian | (adj) Coarse, cheap cotton and linen cloth, appropriate for servants’ clothes |
| Gamut | (n) The medieval hexachordal musical scale; pupils learned to associate parts of the hand and fingers with musical notes, which they could then sing back to the teacher as they pointed to those areas |
| Gramercies | (intj) Many thanks – of old French origin, from grand merci |
| Haggard | (n) A wild hawk |
| Holidame (“By my holidame”) | (n) “By all that I hold sacred”; derived from “holy dame”, the Virgin Mary |
| Junkets | (n) Candies, desserts, delicacies |
| Kites | (n) General term for falcons |
| Lampass | (n) Swellings and cankerous sores in the mouth |
| Maidenhead | (n) Virginity |
| Mew | (v) To coop up, confine (a hawk was caged in a “mew” while it molted, a connection to hawking terms/taming metaphors) |
| Milch-kine | (n) Dairy cows |
| Neat’s foot | (n) Calf or an ox’s foot |
| Pate | (n) Head |
| Peat | (n) A pet, a spoiled child |
| Peremptory | (adj) Determined, resolved, absolutely decided |
| Pith/Pithy | (n/adj) The central issue, to the point or concise |
| Poesy | (n) Poetry |
| Porringer | (n) Small basin or dish |
| Prove a jade | (n) Proverbially, a worn-out horse that will soon give up |
| Repast | (n) A meal |
| Rheims | (n) Site of a famous university, founded in 1547; in Shakespeare’s day, Rheims would have been recognized as the most important source of Catholic activity in England |
| Rush-candle | (n) A candle of poor quality made from dipping a plant in grease or tallow |
| Saint George | (n) England’s patron saint and patron of the Order of the Garter, the highest order of knighthood. |
| Sirrah | (n) An archaic term of address for a man or a boy, used when addressing someone of lower status than the speaker |
| Stale | (n) Decoy or lure (from falconry); figuratively, a person who lures another deceptively |
| “Let’s be no stoics nor no stocks…” | Stoics put aside pleasure and desire; stocks are blockheads, or literal pieces of wood; this phrase means, “Don’t forget to have fun” |
| Trow | (v) To think or believe (“I am pretty sure”) |
| Untoward | (adj) Unruly, unacceptable |
Italian and Latin in The Taming of the Shrew
| WORD/PHRASE | TRANSLATION |
|---|---|
| Alla nostra casa ben venuto; molto honorato signor mio Petruchio | “Welcome to our house, much honored Signor Petrucchio” (Italian) |
| Backare | “Stand back,” which is a play on the next phrase in the text, “You are marvelous forward” (Latin) |
| Ben venuto | “Welcome” (Italian) |
| Con tutto il cuore ben trovato | “With all my heart, well met” (Italian) |
| Imprimis | In legal jargon, this means “first” (Latin) |
| Mi perdonato | “Pardon me; with apologies” (Italian) |
| Hic ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus; Hic Steterat Priami regia celsa senis | This means “Here flowed the Simois; this is the Sigeian land (Troy); here stood the lofty palace of ancient Priam” (Latin) This text is from Ovid’s Heroides. Surrounded by unwelcome suitors, Penelope, Ulysses’s faithful wife, writes this to her husband. Like Penelope, Bianca must put up with several men attempting to make her their wife. |