Well, I discussed this Anglo-Saxon word choice thing with The Wife since my previous post, and she said, more or less, "Oh, I hate reading books written like that."
That took me aback. I asked her what the problem was. As she began to explain, I realized that what she was reacting against was stilted, pseudo-Elizabethan English such as Thou hast prevailed for the nonce, rapscallion, but upon my oath, thy victory shall be short-lived. Um, no. That's not what I mean, and I hope no one else thinks that.
Here's an example of what I do mean. I was doing some revision work on the project recently, and I came across a sentence where I had written that one of the characters had improved something. Improved is a word with Latin roots, and so I should not have used it there. The idea is to replace improved with a proper Anglo-Saxon word.
What would an Anglo-Saxon say there? What word would Tolkien have used there? I have to admit that I wracked my brain over this for a while, probably longer than I should have. Now, there are times when there simply is no good choice, and you're stuck with using a French or a Latin/Greek word. Even Tolkien got stuck like that sometimes. But neither do I want to use some obsolete or archaic word (like nonce in the above example). I'm not 100% opposed to using archaisms in my story. A few of them, sprinkled here and there, might help the story feel more real. But it's important to use them sparingly. Use too many and they begin to call attention to themselves, or worse; the reader starts tripping over unfamiliar words and is taken out of the story. That, I suppose, is what The Wife was objecting to.
So what I'm looking for is a word still in use in modern English that is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means improved. Call that Plan A. Plan B is to go ahead and use improved. It's not a terrible word. Most readers will ride right by it and not notice that it's a little out of place in the story. Of course, I absolutely have to avoid any word that's entirely anachronistic. Like okay, for instance, which is ubiquitous in modern English but would be jarringly out of place in a story set in the seventh century. But improved? I can get away with it, if I need to.
Improved means "made better." What would be the Anglo-Saxon way of saying that? Have you guessed yet? I am a little embarrassed to admit how long it took me to come up with the answer. And you will be, too, if you haven't already gotten it. It's staring at you right now. See it? Bettered. That's it!
In modern English, better is almost exclusively used as an adjective. (A comparative, if you want to get technical.) But it is also a verb and a noun. (When I say noun, I mean in the sense of "in the presence of your betters" not in the sense of "a person who places a bet.") Regardless, I think it's fair to say that most any native speaker of English is aware that better can be used as a verb, although it's a subtle enough trick that it might trip up a non-native speaker, even a very good one.
Using one word, better, as a noun and a verb and an adjective is distinctively Anglo-Saxon, and yet I can use it without causing the reader to become confused or taking the reader out of the story. That's because we all have a larger receptive vocabulary than our expressive vocabulary. In other words, we all know and understand many more words than we use in everyday communication. Those are the words I'm after.
