Review of English Studies: Hamlet, and his secret names
20 July 2011On the OUP blog, Lisa Collinson explores a new ancient Irish etymology for the Hamlet-name in Shakespeare's famous play, as set out in her recent paper in The Review of English Studies.
"In this new article, I conclude that Hamlet probably came ultimately from Gaelic Admlithi: a name attached to a player (or ‘mocker’) in a strange and violent medieval Irish tale known in English as ‘The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel’. If I’m right, this means that some version of the Hamlet-name was associated with players hundreds of years before Shakespeare lived or wrote."For the full blog post, visit Hamlet, and his secret names
Read the paper: ‘A New Etymology for Hamlet? the Names Amlethus, Amlođi and Admlithi
Published in The Review of English Studies, Advance Access, 3 March 2011.