A history of the English Language

157.
The Problem of Enrichment.
In 1531 Sir Thomas Elyot, statesman as well as scholar, published what has been 
described as the first book on education printed in English. He called it 
The Governour
because it had to do with the training of those who in the future would be occupied at 
court. The dedication to Henry the Eighth is couched in the following terms: 
A history of the english language 198

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I late consideringe (moste excellent prince and myne onely redoughted 
soveraigne lorde) my duetie that I owe to my naturall contray with my 
faythe also of aliegeaunce and othe…I am (as God juge me) violently 
stered to 
devulgate
or sette fourth some part of my studie, trustynge therby 
tacquite me of my dueties to God, your hyghnesse, and this my contray. 
Wherfore takinge comfort and boldenesse, partly of your graces moste 
benevolent inclination towarde the universall weale of your subjectes, 
partly inflamed with zele, I have now enterprised to 
describe
in our 
vulgare tunge the fourme of a juste publike weale:… Whiche 
attemptate
is 
nat of presumption to teache any persone, I my selfe havinge moste nede 
of teachinge: but onely to the intent that men which wil be studious about 
the weale publike may fynde the thinge therto expedient compendiously 
writen. And for as moch as this present 
7 
See the extract printed in Appendix B. 
8 
For a comprehensive account of the English orthoepists see E.J.Dobson, 
English Pronunciation 
1500–1700
(2 vols., 2nd ed., Oxford, 1968), vol. 1. 
The renaissance, 1500-1650 199

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boke treateth of the 
education
of them that hereafter may be demed 
worthy to be governours of the publike weale under your hyghnesse… I 
dedicate
it unto your hyghnesse as the fyrste frutes of my studye, verely 
trustynge that your moste excellent wysedome wyll therein 
esteme
my 
loyall harte and diligent endevour…Protestinge unto your excellent 
majestie that where I commende herin any one vertue or 
dispraise
any one 
vice I meane the generall description of thone and thother without any 
other particular meanynge to the reproche of any one persone. To the 
whiche protestation I am nowe dryven throughe the malignite of this 
present tyme all disposed to malicious detraction… 
In this passage we have an early example of the attempt to improve the English language. 
The words printed in italics were all new in Elyot’s day; two of them 
(education, 
dedicate)
are first found in the English language as he uses them in this dedication. Two 
others (
esteem
and 
devulgate
) are found in the sense here employed only one year earlier. 
Several others could be instanced which, although recorded slightly earlier, were not yet 
in general use.
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In so short a passage these new words are fairly numerous, but not more 
numerous than in the rest of his book, and, what is more important, they are not the 
innovations of a pedant or an extremist. Other writers who could be cited were less 
restrained in their enthusiasm for words drawn from Latin, Greek, and French. Nor are 
these new words in Elyot the result of chance. They are part of a conscious effort to 
enrich the English vocabulary. 
We have already indicated that enlarging the vocabulary was one of the three major 
problems confronting the modern languages in the eyes of men in the sixteenth century. 
And it is not difftcult to see why this was so. The Renaissance was a period of increased 
activity in almost every field. It would have been strange if the spirit of inquiry and 
experiment that led to the discovery of America, the reform of the church, the Copernican 
theory, and the revolution of thought in many fields should have left only language 
untouched. The rediscovery of Latin and Greek literature led to new activity in the 
modern languages and directed attention to them as the medium of literary
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