Current Science

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Since this year marks the 450th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare (1564-1616), I provide a synopsis on how primatology-linked words had been used by him. Ape, monkey, baboon and marmoset are the four words relating to subhuman primates which occur in Shakespeare's oeuvre. Inferences derived were: (1) Shakespeare was unaware of the existence of 'real apes' as we understand now. Thus, his cavalier use of the 'ape' word for monkeys can be exempted. The word 'monkey' was gaining prominence as a popular generic word in English, only just before he began writing his first plays in 1590. (2) Occasionally, he had used either 'ape' and 'monkey' or 'baboon' and 'monkey' combinations adjacently. (3) 'Nape' was an earlier form of 'ape' in Middle English. In four occasions, Shakespeare had used the word 'jackanapes' as a contemptuous term. (4) True to prevailing period trends, Shakespeare also made use of ape or monkey motifs for contempt, endearment, imitativeness and sorcery.
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