Did You Know?

Nowadays, someone who uses euphuism might be accused of linguistic excess and affectation, but "euphuism" hasn't always had a negative connotation. When John Lyly employed this verbose form of rhetoric in his prose works Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580), it was a style that appealed to many of his contemporaries. "Euphuism" comes from the name of the character Euphues, whom Lyly described as a "young gallante, of more wit then wealth, and yet of more wealth then wisdome." The name was probably inspired by a Greek word meaning "witty." The term "euphuism" came into being to refer to Lyly's (and other writers') style a dozen or so years after his works appeared.