A Winter's Tale Help, 'He something seemed...'

Question

There is a children's copy of A Winter's Tale at work with a line I didn't understand (browsing whilst waiting for the microwave!). It says 'He something seemed unsettled' (Hermione talking about Leontes).

I haven't read any Shakespeare (apart from Romeo and Juliet at school) so I'm sure there's much more I wouldn't get but this keeps bugging me!

Thanks,

Gary

Usage changes over time, but it's not that different to modern He seemed somewhat* unsettled. And colloquially we still say It hurts something awful*. — FumbleFingers, Nov 16 '15 at 13:07

Tsundoku · Answer 1 · 2017-10-02T13:05:22.757

1

This is from Act 1, scene 2 in The Winter's Tale (I.2.147). In this context, "something" means "somewhat" or "a little".

In The Penguin Shakespeare edition of the play, Ernest Schanzer glossed "something" as "somewhat". In The Oxford Shakespeare (not the single-volume edition but the series with individual volumes per play), Stephen Orgel also glossed "something" as "somewhat". In The Arden Shakespeare (second series) J. H. P. Pafford did not provide a footnote for "something".

I also consulted the edition hosted on Shakespeare's Words, which glosses the word as "a little, to some extent".

edited Oct 02 '17 at 13:05

answered Oct 01 '17 at 17:54

Tsundoku

2,327

never heard "gloss" used in that context. So, learned something unexpected from this answer. – am21 Oct 02 '17 at 13:21
@am21 "Gloss" as a verb is quite common in annotated editions of Shakeseare's plays. – Tsundoku Oct 06 '17 at 12:46

A Winter's Tale Help, 'He something seemed...'

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