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The "Ink-horn" Controversy |
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Expansion of English Vocabulary |
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About four times as many
words were introduced between 1500 and 1700 as between 1200 and
1500
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Printing augmented the number of texts and their
survivability: nearly
160,000 early printed titles are listed in the standard
catalogues of the period
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Authorial inventiveness
also played a part in the expansion of vocabulary: the most
lexically creative authors in English literature worked during
this period (the literary “golden age”)
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The period from the time of
Caxton until around 1650 was later to be called the
“Renaissance” and was marked by a renewal of connection with
Classical languages, literatures, and the arts
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The
Renaissance was characterised by a rethinking of religious
and scientific values, as seen in the Reformation and the
discoveries of Copernicus, and an expansion of global horizons
thanks to great geographical discoveries
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There were few words in
English to talk precisely about the new perspectives, concepts,
techniques, and products
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The Classical languages
presented a solution, offering hundreds of Latin and Greek words
which could be readily adapted
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