Swearing

Under the heading of ‘swearing’ we include any emphatic expressions in which the speaker makes an invocation to affirm something or to make something happen. In this sense it is more narrowly focused than the notion of ’bad language’, which includes a wider range of intensifying expressions, some of which are mild (such as verily), some much stronger (such as whoreson), and some very strong or rude (such as figo). Several items permit varied amounts of force, such as beshrew (‘curse’, ‘devil take’), which is mild when used by Theseus in TNK II.iv.63 but strong when used by Richard in R2 III.ii.204. Intensifiers of this kind are illustrated in the A--Z section. The description of swearing is massively complicated by the influence of expurgators during the period. The ‘Act to restrain Abuses of Players’ of 1606 made it illegal for players to ‘jestingly or prophanely speak or use the holy Name of God or of Christ Jesus, or of the Holy Ghost or of the Trinity’, on pain of a severe (Ł10 ) fine for each offence. The late plays were obviously affected by this law, as well as performances of the earlier plays, and large-scale but erratic expurgation affected the First Folio (1623), as seen in any comparison with earlier Quarto texts (e.g. before God often replaced by trust me).
Modern editions, having restored original text as much as possible, provide evidence of a remarkable number of swearing expressions. This is chiefly a reflection of the range of characters in the plays - lords and peasants, old and young, men and women - whose swearing habits range from princely affirmations of honour (‘by the honour of my blood’) to servants’ allusions to horse diseases (‘bots on’t’),

and include many special usages, such as the clown’s comic use of ‘i’th’name of me’ upon encountering Autolycus (WT IV.iii.50), the puritan oath ‘by yea and no’ used by Falstaff in his affected letter to Prince Hal (2H4 II.ii.124), the fashionable swearing of gallants on items of clothing (Slender’s ‘by these gloves’, MW I.i.142), and the delicate nature of ladylike oaths - specifically as noted by Hotspur, who takes his wife to task for swearing ‘like a comfit-maker’s wife - “Not you, in good sooth!”, and “As true as I live!”, and “As God shall mend me!”, and “As sure as day!”’ (1H4 III.i.241-4). You can swear ‘by’ virtually anything you hold dear, and these expresisons range from the most sacred notions of Christianity to quite everyday notions of human behaviour and the environment. In the Roman plays, the Christian god is replaced by members of the Classical pantheon. In terms of formal construction, the commonest locution uses an introductory ‘by’ followed by the sworn phrase, but there are several other types of construction. These are grouped below in relation to the entities sworn by. No indication is given of frequency in the list, so it is important to note that some items are very common indeed, such as marry, sooth, and faith, and others are very restricted - sometimes even to individuals, who have their ‘favourite’ swear-words or versions of swear-words, such as Coriolanus’s swearing by Jove (Cor III.i.86) or Dr Caius’ French pronunciation as represented in ‘by Gar’ (MW I.iv.106).

God and his attributes

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
God, afore / ’fore	R2 II.i.200	before God
God-a-mercy	TC V.iv.31	thank God
God, by	1H4 II.i.37
God, i’th’name of	Ham II.i.76
God, O	Ham V.ii.338
God bless us	MND V.i.312
God help	CE IV.iv.127
God mend me, so	AYL IV.i.174	amend, save
God save me	2H4 II.i.153
God shall mend me, as	1H4 III.i.243	amend, save
God shall mend my soul	RJ I.v.79	amend, save
God warn us	AYL IV.i.69	[unclear] protect; warrant
God warrant us	MND V.i.311	preserve
God willing	Ham I.v.186
God’s bodkin	Ham II.ii.527	dear body
God’s body	1H4 II.i.27
God’s bread	RJ III.v.176
God’s lid, by	TC I.ii.211	eyelid
God’s liggens, by	2H4 V.iii.64	[unclear] lidkins = dear eyelids
God’s light	2H4 II.iv.128
God’s mercy	AW I.iii.144
God’s my life	MND IV.i.202
God’s peace	H5 IV.iii.31
God’s sonties, by	MV II.ii.40	saints
God’s love, for	Ham I.ii.195
God’s me	1H4 II.iii.97	save me
God’s my life	MA IV.ii.68
God's name, a	TS I.ii.192	in God’s name
God’s sake, for	2H4 II.iv.183
good Father	RJ IV.iv.21
Got’s lords and his ladies	MW I.i.219	>> WELSH
perdy	Ham III.ii.302	by God [French: par Dieu]
perdie	CE IV.iv.69	by God [French: par Dieu]

Shortening to ’Od / ’Ud

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
’Od’s heartlings	MW III.iv.56	dear heart
’Od’s lifelings	TN V.i.181	dear life
’Od’s me	MW I.iv.60	save me
’Od’s my little life	AYL III.v.43	may God save my little life
’Od’s my will	AYL IV.iii.18	as God is my will
’Od’s nouns	MW IV.i.23	wounds
’Od’s pittikins	Cym IV.ii.293	dear pity
’Od’s plessed will	MW I.i.245	blessed will >> WELSH
Ud’s pity	Oth IV.iii.74

Softened forms

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
Cock, by	Ham IV.v.62	God [often with bawdy pun]
cock and pie, by	MW I.i.283	God and the service book
Cock’s passion	TS IV.i.105	God’s passion
Cox my passion	AW V.ii.40	God’s my passion
gar, By	MW I.iv.105	French pronunciation of ‘God’
gogs-wouns, by	TS III.ii.159	God’s wounds

With ‘God’ omitted

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
’sblood	Ham II.ii.365	God’s blood
’sdeath	Cor I.i.215	God’s death
bodykins	MW II.iii.40	God’s little body
death	H8 I.iii.13	God’s death
’sfoot	TC II.iii.5	God’s foot
mercy o’me	H8 V.iv.66	God have mercy on me
mercy on’s	WT III.iii.68	God have mercy on us
mercy, so help you	Ham I.v.169	God’s mercy
’slid	MW III.iv.24	God’s eyelid
’slight	TN II.v.32	God’s light
’swounds	Ham II.ii.573	God’s wounds
zounds	Oth I.i.87	God’s wounds

Christ

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
Chrish, by	H5 III.ii.85	>> SCOTTISH
fut	KL I.ii.130	[unclear]’sfoot = Christ’s foot
Gis, by	Ham IV.v.59	Jesus
Jesu	2H4 III.ii.32
Jesus	2H4 III.ii.214
Jesu Maria	RJ II.iii.65
Lord	Tem I.ii.411
Lord, by the	1H4 I.ii.39
Lord, good	CE IV.i.48
Lord, goodly	MV III.v.45	good Lord
Lord warrant us	AYL III.iii.4	protect
Rood, by the	Ham III.iv.15	cross
Rood, by the Holy	R3 III.ii.75	holy cross

Mary

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
halidom, by my	TG IV.ii.132	what I hold holy
holidam, by my	RJ I.iii.44	what I hold holy; or: Our Lady
holidame, by my	TS V.ii.98	what I hold holy; or: Our Lady
’Lady, by	Tit IV.iv.48	Our Lady
Lady, by’r	Ham II.ii.424	Our Lady
lakin, by’r	MND III.i.12	Our Lady
marry	AYL I.ii.25	Mary
Mary, by holy	H8 V.ii.32
mother, by God’s	3H6 III.ii.103
mother, God’s blest	H8 V.i.153
Mother of our Lord, by the holy	R3 III.vii.2

Saints

Item	Example	Gloss [where needed]
Anne, by Saint	TN II.iii.113	mother of the Virgin Mary
Charity, by Saint	Ham IV.v.59	[not a saint’s name]
Francis, holy Saint	RJ II.iii.61
John, by Saint	R3 I.i.138
Patrick, by Saint	Ham I.v.136	keeper of spirits in purgatory
Paul, by Saint	R3 I.ii.36
Paul, by holy	R3 I.iii.45
Paul, by the apostle	R3 V.iii.217

Other Christian notions

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

christendom, by my KJ IV.i.16

devil’s name, a TS IV.iii.92 in the devil’s name

good-year, what the MA I.iii.1 what the devil [origin possibly: evil preventing a good year]

faith Ham I.v.135

faith, by my AYL IV.i.19

faith, in Ham V.ii.133

faith, good Cym IV.ii.302 in good faith

faith, in good Ham V.i.45

fay, by my Ham II.ii.264 faith

fecks, i’ WT I.ii.120 in faith

grace, for love of Ham III.iv.145

grace to boot WT I.ii.80 heaven help us

heaven, by Ham I.i.49

mass Ham V.i.55

mass, by MA IV.ii.49

mass, by the Ham II.i.50

soul, by my MA V.i.262

soul, by my father’s H5 III.ii.87

soul, upon my TNK II.iv.16

vengeance, what the Cor III.i.261 what the hell

Non-Christian religions

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

Apollo, by KL I.i.160

Castor, by TNK III.vi.136

gods, the Cor II.iii.53

Hercules, by AC III.vii.67

Jacob’s staff, by MV II.v.35

Janus, by Oth I.ii.33

Jove AYL II.iv.55

Jove that thunders, by AC III.xiii.85

Juno, by KL II.iv.21

Jupiter, O AYL II.iv.1

Jupiter, by KL I.i.178

Mars, by th'helm of TNK I.iv.17

Mars his gauntlet, by TC IV.v.177

Mars’s altar, by TNK I.i.62

Pluto, by TC V.ii.105

Pluto and hell! Cor I.iv.36

Venus’ hand, by TC IV.i.23

GODS

Human being or attributes

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

body o’me H8 V.ii.21 my body, my life

live, as true as I 1H4 III.i.243

complexion, good my AYL III.ii.188 cf. modern: pardon my blushes

death, upon my 1H4 V.iv.150

death on my state KL II.iv.107

hand, by this Ham V.ii.252

me, afore Per II.i.80 before me

me, fore
AW II.iii.25
before me

me, i’th’name of WT IV.iii.50

life, on / upon my MW I.i.37

whip me 3H6 III.ii.28 treat me as a criminal

whip the gosling Per IV.ii.81 confound the little goose

yea and no, by 2H4 II.ii.124

Human values

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

fidelity, by my MW IV.ii.144

forsooth 1H6 IV.i.157 in truth, truly

honesty, by mine TG II.v.1

honour, by mine AYL I.ii.58

honour, on / upon mine MM I.i.63

loves, of all MND II.ii.160 by all love, for love’s sake

sooth TN II.i.9 [truth] truly, indeed

sooth, good TS III.ii.115 in good truth

sooth, in good 1H4 III.i.240 in good truth

troth MW I.iv.139 in faith

troth, by my AYL I.ii.84 by my faith

troth, good H8 II.iii.33 in good faith

Part of the body or clothing

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

beard, by my TG IV.i.10

gloves, by these MW I.i.142

hand, by my 2H6 V.iii.29

hand, by this 2H4 II.ii.42

hand of a soldier, by the AW III.vi.66

hat, by this MW I.i.157

head / heel, by my RJ III.i.34

hilts, by these 1H4 II.iv.202 of swords

honour of my blood, by the 2H4 IV.ii.55

hood, by my MV II.vi.51 of a mask

sword, by this H5 II.i.96

troth and maidenhead, by my H8 II.iii.23 faithful virginity

white glove, by this LLL V.ii.411

white hand of my lady, by the H5 III.vii.90

will, by my LLL II.i.99

Environment

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

clouds, by yond Cor III.i.50

day, as sure as 1H4 III.i.244

day, by this 2H4 III.ii.73

elements, by th’ Cor I.x.10

light, by this KJ I.i.259

light, by this good TNK II.i.320

north pole, by the LLL V.ii.690

world, by the LLL V.i.99

Diseases, human or animal

Item
Example
Gloss [where needed]

bots on't Per II.i.119 horse worms

murrain on it, a Cor I.v.3 plague, pestilence

pox Ham III.ii.262 venereal disease, plague

pox, a 1H4 I.ii.47

pox on it, a Cym II.i.17 also: a pox on him [etc]