In 1590, early modern English was less than 100 years old. It just so happens that at the time, one William Shakespeare was writing his sonnets and plays in English. But there were no dictionaries he could use to look up a word, so instead, he made up his own words. 

At the time virtually all written documents were written in Latin. But because Shakespeare wrote in English, words he invented were included in his plays, and luckily not lost to us. His contribution of a whopping 1,700 words to the English language was a  monumental  achievement, elevating him to genius level... and yes, he did invent one of the words I've used in this piece -  monumental.

Copyright © Tom Kane July 2025