Today’s English
July 20th, 2017
John Milton, “the poet of the sublime" in Dryden's words has been placed by scholars next to Shakespeare and is best remembered for his greatest epic “Paradise Lost” just as Valmiki is known for “the Ramayana” and Vyasa for “the Mahabharata.” Many consider blindness as an intellectual death sentence but Milton lighted the world by “justifying the ways of God to man" with his monumental work Paradise Lost which first appeared in 10 books in 1667 only after his eyesight had completely failed in 1652. We, the aspiring speakers of English language, would be blind enough if we are not able to see his greatest contribution to English language. As John Crace says in his article “John Milton – Our Greatest Word-maker,” Milton is responsible for introducing some 630 words to the English language, making him the country's greatest neologist, ahead of Ben Jonson with 558, John Donne with 342 and Shakespeare with 229. The Oxford English Dictionary has also confirmed Milton to be the first cited author for more than 600 words and nearly 130 words have been coined by him with the negative prefix “un.” The following are some Miltonic words or expressions which can be used in day-to-day spoken English.
1.Miltonic word: pandemonium
Origin/source: Milton's “Paradise Lost"
Meaning: a situation with full of noise and confusion because people are angry or frightened. (It’s the capital of hell in Milton's work, roughly meaning “all demons")
Examples:
A.Pandemonium broke out in Tamil Nadu when the former chief minister was admitted and reported to have died in the hospital.
B.There was pandemonium till the Principal came to the spot.
2. Miltonic word: earth-shaking
Origin/source: Milton's “Comus"
Meaning: having a great effect and importance
Examples:
A.It was an earthshaking news that children of government employees should study only at government schools.
B.Do you really say you don’t want a sari? It’s earthshaking!
4.Miltonic word : lovelorn
Origin/source: Milton's “Comus”
Meaning: unhappy because not loved by the person you love.
Examples:
A.You can see lovelorn boys and girls everywhere in this college.
B.I don’t like the hero of the movie to turn into a lovelorn guy.
4.Miltonic word: unoriginal
Origin/ Source: Paradise Lost
Meaning: lacking originality, not your own
Examples:
A.The project works done by college students are totally unoriginal nowadays.
B.All postings on Whatsapp and Facebook are just forwarded by many and remain unoriginal.
5.Miltonic word: debauchery
Origin/source: Comus
Meaning: immoral behavior, involving indulgence in alcohol, sex, etc.
Examples:
A.They spent the whole night in wild debauchery.
B.He was often criticized for his debauchery.
Some of the other common words coined by Milton: space, enjoyable, terrific, sensuous, padlock, dismissive, unaccountable and irresponsible.
“The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” -John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I
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