Bardolatry

[Dr. Goodword]

• bardolatry •

Pronunciation: bahr-dahl-ê-tri, -chri • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass

Meaning: Idolization of William Shakespeare.

Notes: Here is an obviously concocted word that has stuck and propagated. The personal noun is bardolater and bardolatrous is the quality adjective. All are used fairly often, especially by British writers.

In Play: The George Bernard Shaw once famously wrote: "The familiar plea of the Bardolatrous ignoramus, that Shakespeare's coarseness was a part of the manners of his time." Now everybody is using it: "Judging by the growth of bardolatry, Shakespeare may have become England's only deceased cult leader."

Word History: Today's Good Word and its descendants were all invented at the onset of the 20th century by George Bernard Shaw, a man fascinated by the English language. To make his word up, Shaw blended bard + -(id)olatry, now considered a combining form in English. Bard was borrowed from Scottish Gaelic bàrd "poet". Bard descended from PIE gwere- "to raise the voice, praise", found also in Welsh bardd "poet", Irish bhard "bard", and Breton barzh "poet". Gwere- also contributed to Sanskrit grnati "sings, praises", Latin gratus "beloved, dear, agreeable", Albanian gërthas "to shout", Lithuanian girti "to praise" and gerbti "to respect".

Idol, of course, underlies idolatry. It began its life as PIE weid- "to see, know", which popped up in Latin as videre "to see", Russian as videt' "to see", Lithuanian įvaizdis "image", Welsh gwedd "appearance", English wise and wit, and German wissen "to know". Greek dropped the W for its eidolon "image, apparition", so Latin borrowed this word as idolum with the same meaning. French turned idolum into idole before English borrowed it.

[Slava]

GBS of course was thinking idolatry of the Bard when he coined his word, but idolatry has two parts itself. The -latry part is covered in the Dr.'s discussion of epeolatry. Another word to add to the list started there is angelolatry.

Perhaps of interest is that -latry is related to larceny.

[bbeeton]

One might extend the applicability of the term to "worship" of Brigitte Bardot.

The summer after my freshman year in college, I was cashier for a small art theater, where the current flick was "And God Created Woman". But I wasn't old enough to be allowed in to watch it. (Instead, the manager arranged for me to go to the theater across the street and watch "The Vikings". Still not sure whether that was a fair trade.)

[David Myer]

Nice one, Barbara. Bardot worship is a better meaning. And I bet you were old enough to enjoy the film.

I remember The Vikings movie. One scene has stayed with me - the Angles had a man on watch for Viking invasion; his whole face fills the screen as he screams "Vikings" to alert the village, and beautifully displayed is a fine row of amalgam fillings in his teeth. I had no idea the early English were so advanced in dental technology.