Bardolatry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Extravagant worship or uncritical adoration of the works and person of William Shakespeare
2. An excessive, almost religious devotion to the plays and reputation of the playwright Shakespeare
3. Blind or overzealous reverence directed at Shakespeare and his writings, often beyond what their merit justifies

Etymology: George Bernard Shaw coined "bardolatry" in 1901, and he meant it as a sneer. Shaw was tired of the reverence heaped on Shakespeare, which he felt had hardened into a kind of religious worship that discouraged honest criticism of the plays. He built the word from "bard," the old poetic name for a poet, and "-olatry," from Greek "latreia," meaning worship or service. The formula is the same as in "idolatry," worship of idols, so the new word framed Shakespeare's admirers as devotees of a graven image rather than thoughtful readers. The suffix does most of the work here. Shaw took a familiar pattern, the "-olatry" ending that English had long used for excessive devotion, and attached it to a term for poets, so the coinage sounded like an established religious vice. Because the word was built so deliberately, its meaning is transparent: an uncritical, almost religious adoration of Shakespeare.