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Archaism
 
 
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In language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
, an archaism (from the , archaďkós, "old-fashioned, antiquated", ultimately , archaîos, "from the beginning, ancient") is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately (to achieve a specific effect) or as part of a specific jargon
Jargon

Jargon is terminology which has been especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest....
 (for example in law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
) or formula (for example in religious
Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
 contexts). Many nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for ?traditional? songs for young children in Britain and many English speaking countries, but usage only dates from the nineteenth century and in North America the older ?Mother Goose Rhymes? is still often used....
s contain archaisms. Archaic elements that occur only in certain fixed expressions (for example "be that as it may") are not considered to be archaisms.

Usage
Archaisms are most frequently encountered in poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
, law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, and ritual
Ritual

A ritual is a set of repeated actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions....
 writing and speech.






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Encyclopedia


In language
Language

A language is a form of symbol communication in which elements are combined to represents something other than themselves. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon....
, an archaism (from the , archaďkós, "old-fashioned, antiquated", ultimately , archaîos, "from the beginning, ancient") is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately (to achieve a specific effect) or as part of a specific jargon
Jargon

Jargon is terminology which has been especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. In other words, the term covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest....
 (for example in law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
) or formula (for example in religious
Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
 contexts). Many nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for ?traditional? songs for young children in Britain and many English speaking countries, but usage only dates from the nineteenth century and in North America the older ?Mother Goose Rhymes? is still often used....
s contain archaisms. Archaic elements that occur only in certain fixed expressions (for example "be that as it may") are not considered to be archaisms.

Usage


Archaisms are most frequently encountered in poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
, law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, and ritual
Ritual

A ritual is a set of repeated actions, often thought to have symbolic value, the performance of which is usually prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community by religious or political laws because of the perceived efficacy of those actions....
 writing and speech. Their deliberate use can be subdivided into literary
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
 archaisms, which seeks to evoke the style of older speech and writing; and lexical
Lexicon

In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes....
 archaisms, the use of words no longer in common use. Archaisms are kept alive by these ritual and literary uses and by the study of older literature. Should they remain recognised, they can be revived, as the word anent was in this past century.

Some, such as academic and amateur philologists
Philology

Philology, derived from the Greek language considers both morphology and Meaning in linguistic expression, combining linguistics and literary studies....
, enjoy learning and using archaisms either in speech or writing, though this may sometimes be misconstrued as pseudo-intellectualism.

Archaisms are frequently misunderstood, leading to changes in usage. One example is the use of the archaic familiar second person singular pronoun "thou
Thou

The word thou is a grammatical person grammatical number pronoun in English language. It is now largely archaism, having been replaced in almost all contexts by you....
" to refer to God in English Christianity. Although originally a familiar pronoun, it has been misinterpreted as a respectful one by many modern Christians. Another example is found in the phrase
Phrase

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a Sentence .For example the house at the end of the street is a phrase....
 "the odd man out", which originally came from the phrase "to find the odd man out", where the verb "to find out" has been split by its object "the odd man", meaning the item which does not fit.

The compound adverbs and prepositions found in the writing of lawyer
Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
s (e.g. heretofore, hereunto, thereof) are examples of archaisms as a form of jargon. Some phraseologies
Phraseology

Phraseology appeared in the domain of lexicology and is undergoing the process of segregating as a separate branch of linguistics. The reason is clear ? lexicology deals with words and their meanings, whereas phraseology studies such collocations of words , where the meaning of the whole collocation is different from the simple sum of literal...
, especially in religious contexts, retain archaic elements that are not used in ordinary speech in any other context: "With this ring I thee wed." Archaisms are also used in the dialogue
Dialogue

A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people. It is also a literary form in which two or more parties engage in a discussion....
 of historical novel
Historical novel

A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author....
s in order to evoke the flavour of the period. Some may count as inherently funny word
Inherently funny word

The claim that words are inherently funny, for reasons ranging from onomatopoeia to phonosemantics to sexual innuendo, is well documented among people who work in humor....
s and are used for humorous
Humour

Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. Many theories exist about what humour is and what social function it serves....
 effect.

Alternative meanings


In anthropological studies of culture, archaism is defined as the absence of writing and subsistence economy. In history, archaism is used to connote a superior, albeit mythical, "golden age."

See also


  • Thou
    Thou

    The word thou is a grammatical person grammatical number pronoun in English language. It is now largely archaism, having been replaced in almost all contexts by you....