In language, an archaism is the deliberate use of an older form that has fallen out of current use.

Usage

Archaisms are most frequently encountered in poetry, law, and ritual writing and speech. Their deliberate use can be subdivided into literary archaisms, which seeks to evoke the style of older speech and writing; and lexical archaisms, the use of words no longer in common use. Archaisms are kept alive by these ritual and literary uses and by the study of older literature. Should they remain recognised, they can be revived, as the word anent was in this past century.

Syntax here

The compound adverbs and prepositions found in the writing of lawyers (e.g. heretofore, hereunto, thereof) are usually thought of as archaisms. Archaic syntax is also typically found in these ritual and legal contexts. (e.g. "With this ring I thee wed.") Archaisms are also used in the dialogue of historical novels in order to evoke the flavour of the period. Some may count as inherently funny words and are used for humorous effect.

See also

• list of archaic English words and their modern equivalents

Linguistics

Alternative meanings

In anthropological studies of culture, archaism is defined as the absence of writing and subsistence economy. In history, archaism is used to connote a superior, albeit mythical, "golden age."

Архаизъм | Archaismus | Arkaismo | Αρχαϊσμός | Archaismo | Archaïsme | Arkaisme | Archaizm | Arhaism | Архаизм | Archaizmus | Arkaism