The slang in Elizabethan London
Pronunciation of words in Elizabethan English is a complicated matter, since linguistically it rests between the “say what you see” rules of Middle English and the more esoteric pronunciations of Modern English. It is unreasonable to have the term ‘cider’ pronounced ‘zoiderr’, ‘farmer’ as ‘varmerr’; ‘house’ as ‘hoos’; ‘tea’ as ‘tay’; ‘grass’ as ‘grace’ or ‘graz’; ‘creek’ as ‘crik’. Also there are regional things to keep in mind, for instance in the East and North counties.
There are some things to keep in mind. “Y” does not always mean in 16th Century English the same thing that it does in modern English. For example, the words ‘Ye’ and ‘You’ would be pronounced ‘the’ and ‘thou’, while the words ‘foyre’ and ‘yard’ are, pronounced “fire” and “yard”. In other words, this is a very tricky subject and you should be cautious.
Here is a short list of words and expressions used in Elizabethan’s London.
Argent, bit, cross, lowre – coin, cash
abroad – out of doors
amulet – omelette
artificer – skilled workman
Barbary – North Africa
bellman – nightwatchman
blue-coat – a servant
brabble – quarrel
bong, bung – purse, pocket
broadsword – heavy old-fashioned sword for slashing
cant, peddler’s french – criminal slang
cullis – meat broth
cuttle – knife
derrick – a hangman
foister – a pickpocket
french marbles – venereal disease
garnish – a bribe given to a prison officer
green goose – goose under four months old
higgler – pedlar
jakes – a privy
kickshaw – fancy snack, from French quelquechose (something)
laystall – a dung-heap or midden
napery – table linen
nipper – a cutpurse
nunchion – snack between meals
ordinary – eating house, with the fixed price, set meal
paled – fenced
pippin – apple grown from the seed
potboy – youth employed to clear away in a tavern
poor John – salted hake
rear-banquet – late night snack
sack – sherry
shoulder-clapping – arrest
stew – a brothel
sucket – sweet e.g. sugar-plum
traffic – whore
trull – person of low character
ware-bench – shop counter
winchester goose – whore
zany – a clown
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