Coined by Shakespeare Words from the Lighter Side Site Map Cool Words from The Lighter Side of Language Back to School Academe . When Shakespeare needs a synonym for school in Love's Labor's Lost , he reaches back to ancient Greek for the inspiration of academe . In the comedy's first act, King Ferdinand of Navarre and his attending lords swear to live as chaste scholars for three years.
Academe derives ultimately from Greek mythology.
Along with related words like academic and academy , it can be traced to Akademeia, a public grove and gymnasium in Athens where the ancient philosopher Plato taught, named for Akademos , a Greek hero in the Trojan War. This learned coinage must have appealed to Shakespeare, who also uses its plural form twice in the same play. In 1754 this Pennsylvania town was named for the Tuscarora Academy, a school for training ministers and teachers. The original academy building is now the home of the Mifflintown Historical Society. In 1596 Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queen saluted the seasons through personification, portraying each season as a muse all dressed up in appropriate attire.