Kaley Shoaf- Book Review

Kaley Shoaf
Elang 324

The Influence of Jane Austen

Jane Austen was one of the foremost British authors of the 19th century. Though largely unknown while Austen was living, her work has become very popular with readers and critiques alike. Jane Austen was born in 1775 to a family of the lower-rank gentry and, for most of Austen’s life, her father was a rector at Steventon, Hampshire. She received much of her education through reading at home under the influence of her father and brothers. She began writing as a young woman and, as was customary at the time, did not publish under her name, but simply as “A Lady.” Austen’s social upbringing, as well as the fact that she never married, gave her a unique outlook on the social circumstances of 18th and 19th century England. Indeed, her novels were primarily focused on these issues, though generally taking a comical approach. Her works were part of the transition into realism in literature.

I read Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s first full-length novel, which was published in 1811. Through Sense and Sensibility and her following novels, Jane Austen made significant contributions to the English language by including words never before written in literature.

In Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen primarily tells the story of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood who, after the death of their father, find themselves in a rather unfortunate financial state. The book follows their interactions with their relations and friends, as well as their experiences in love lost and love found. The Oxford English Dictionary cites Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility as the first published text to include several words, such as chaperon, incautiousness, irrepressible, stylish, and unlover-like. Though used centuries earlier as a noun, chaperon was used for the first time as a verb, meaning, “To act as chaperon to (a young lady); to escort.” (All definitions come from the OED Online.) Similarly, the word incautious had previously been used as an adjective but had never been turned into a noun as Austen did by using incautiousness, which means, “The quality of being incautious; heedlessness, rashness.” The word repress had been used as a verb since the 14th century but Jane Austen was the first to add the prefix ir- and the suffix –ible­ to form the adjective irrespressible, to mean “Not repressible; that cannot be repressed, restrained, or put down; irrestrainable. (Of persons, often more or less humorous.)” This is a good example of Austen’s typical comical commentary on human nature and the attitudes of the time period. Probably the most currently well-known and commonly used word first appearing in Sense and Sensibility is stylish. The adjective means “Of persons, their appearance or manners, also of dress, equipage, etc.: Noticeable for ‘style’ or conformity to the fashionable standard of elegance; showily fashionable.” When first written, Jane Austen spelled it stilish, but the y has since replaced the i. The final word—and the least common today—was unlover-like. In her text, the word was meant to imply a manner not suiting a lover. The word is an excellent example of how easy it is to form words in English by simply adding prefixes and suffixes to existing words.

The next Jane Austen novel which made significant contributions to the English language was Mansfield Park, which was published in 1814. The book tells the story of Fanny Price, a young, poor girl who is sent to live with her rich relatives. As she does in most of her stories, in Mansfield Park, Jane Austen focuses on the social interactions between the young, single English. In her second major novel, Austen was the first to use the words coze, steepish, unpuncuality, and unrepulsable. All of these words are quite unfamiliar to us in modern American English, but became more common in the time following the publication of Mansfield Park. The first, coze, was first used as a noun by Austen, meaning “A cosy, friendly talk.” Personally, I think we should stage a revival of the word; I quite like it. Second, the adjective steepish was used to mean “Somewhat steep, rather precipitous.” In modern English we simply use the word steep to mean the same thing, though steepish is reminiscent of the popular habit in modern English of adding the suffix –ish to the end of any word in order to mean somewhat or rather. Austen first used unpunctuality to indicate a lack of punctuality, or regard for etiquette and formality. Unrepulsable was used to mean incapable of being repulsed, or driven back or repelled. Many of the words used by Jane Austen relate to human interaction or relations, which makes sense because her novels were often based around these topics.

The last of her novels which were published while Austen was still alive was Emma, which was published in 1816. The novel is about the dealings of a young, rich woman who meddles in the affairs of others, trying to be a matchmaker, and learns a few lessons herself. In this book, Jane Austen is the first to use coddle, in-between, smarten, spoilt, sympathizer, unfastidious, unmirthful, and unmodulated. Coddle is used as a verb to mean “To treat as an invalid in need of nourishing food and nursing; to nurse overmuch, cocker.” It is presumed by some that the word is actually a variant of caudle, which is to give a specific warm drink, called a caudle, to a sick person. In-between, which is common in modern English (though not necessarily in the same sense as Austen used it,) was first used by Austen to mean an interval—a time between significant events. Austen used the verb smarten, in conjunction with the preposition to, to mean “To make smart or spruce; to improve in appearance.” Today, we would usually use spruce up or fix up to mean the same thing. Jane Austen was the first to use spoilt as a variation on the past participle spoiled to refer to a person who is rotten or overly-indulged. Next, Austen used sympathizer as a noun to mean someone who sympathizes or agrees with another person. Continuing in her pattern of using the prefix un- to form new words, in Emma, Jane Austen uses unfastidious, unmirthful, and unmodulated. Unfastidious means agreeable, pleasant, or tasteful. Conversely, unmirthful was used to mean unhappy, unpleasant, or not joyful. Unmodulated, also an adjective, means unmeasured or unvaried. When speaking of a person’s voice, as in Emma, it can mean unchanged or monotone.

The final two Jane Austen novels which significantly contributed to the English language were both published after Austen had already died. Both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published in 1818, a year after the death of Jane Austen. Austen’s influence on British literature and the English language, however, carried on for many years after her death. In Northanger Abbey, Austen tells the story of young Catherine Morland’s experiences in making friends and learning who her real friends are. In the book, Austen introduced the words baseball, fragmented, fragmental, road-book, and uncoquettish. At the time, baseball was not a common sport in England. Austen was the first to write about it. She was also the first to turn the noun fragment into an adjective—fragmented, which was used to mean broken into pieces or parts. She also introduced the adjective fragmental, which had the same meaning as fragmentary: “Of the nature of, or composed of, fragments; not complete or entire; disconnected or disjointed.” This shows the ease of using different endings to form adjectives—all meaning essentially the same thing. What we would commonly refer to today as a road map or, simply, a map, Jane Austen called a road-book. In that time, however, the book might have actually described the roads of a specific area instead of just showing them. Finally, in Northanger Abbey, Austen used for the first time uncoquettish to mean a manner dissimilar to that of a coquette, which OED describes as “A woman (more or less young), who uses arts to gain the admiration and affection of men, merely for the gratification of vanity or from a desire of conquest, and without any intention of responding to the feelings aroused; a woman who habitually trifles with the affections of men; a flirt.” Today we may refer to a coquette as a man-eater. So many of Austen’s stories and, in turn, words reflect the situation of young women of the time and their social dealings—specifically, their searches for an appropriate and suitable match.

Finally, Jane Austen’s Persuasion was published in 1818. The novel was originally published with Northanger Abbey as one volume and both stories partially take place in Bath—a resort town in England in which Jane Austen herself lived for several years. Persuasion also tells the story of a woman, though in this story it is of Anne Elliot, a 27 year-old woman fearing spinsterhood. Once again, the story highlights the social situation of the time as the characters seek love and fortune in a spouse. In the book, Jane Austen used for the first time the words carpenter, cousinly, door-bell, unfeudal, and unmodernized. Carpenter is used in the novel as a verb for the firs time, meaning, “To make by carpentry; to do carpenter's work; to put together mechanically.” The word had previously been used as a noun since the 14th century. The word cousinly was also introduced as an adjective meaning, “Characteristic of or befitting a cousin.” Family and social relations are very important in all of Austen’s novels. Austen also introduced door-bell: “A bell in a house, connected with the door by a wire, and rung by means of a handle.” Door-bell is common in modern English, as well, though the object itself has, of course, been updated and is now totally electronic. Unfeudal was used to refer to a state of being completely unrelated to a feud or the feudal system. Again, using the prefix un-, Austen uses the word unmodernized, meaning not updated or modernized. Interestingly, in this novel, many of the words used for the first time are relevant to the domestic or governmental situation of the period.

Beginning with her novel Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen made significant contributions to the English language through the new vocabulary she introduced in each book. Perhaps more important, she has given us a peek into the language of the period, as well as the feelings and situations behind that language. Through her characters, our knowledge and understanding of the English language is enhanced and enlarged.


Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1961.
"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". 11/27/2009 .
Oxford English Dicitonary. Oxford University. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .