Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words

Book excerpt: How do you pronounce zounds, Milan, housewife and hundreds of other words in Shakespeare's plays? In this ingenious book, Dale Coye has provided a guide to each significant word, line-by line, scene-by-scene, in twenty of Shakespeare's most popular plays. More than a simple pronouncing dictionary, Pronouncing Shakespeare's Words pays attention to scansion, displays alternative pronunciations in different centuries and geographical areas, and provides a simple pronunciation guide requiring no knowledge of lexicographic symbols. Now available in an affordable paperback edition, Pronouncing Shakespeare's Plays will become a vade mecum (pronounced VAH-day MAY-cum) for actors, students, and general readers of Shakespeare.