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Word Nerd: "contumely"
Context and Language Videos
Act 3,
Scene 1
Lines 71-79

An explanation of the word "contumely" in Act 3, Scene 1 of myShakespeare's Hamlet.

myShakespeare | Hamlet 3.1 Word Nerd: Contumely

Hamlet

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,    
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make    
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,     
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
Video Transcript: 

RALPH: Contumely is a noun which means insult or abuse, especially when it's condescending and humiliating.

SARAH: Because it ends in "ly" it looks like an adverb, not a noun — like quickly, or gently — which is odd.

RALPH: And what's even odder is that in medieval English the word was also a verb. When you talked down to someone, you contumelyed them.