Episode 191: A Vision of the Future

Episode 191: A Vision of the Future

August 30, 2026 · 1h 18m

About this episode

This episode explores how the English Civil War influenced language development and the emergence of a new sense of self.

As the English Civil War raged in the 1640s, English grammarians wrote about several developments in the language, including a new sound appearing in the word “vision” and new ways of describing future actions and events. The military conflict was also shaping the language by contributing new terms to the lexicon. And a new sense of “self” was emerging, which had far-reaching consequences for philosophy, politics, and the English language. In this episode, we explore how these developments shaped the language we speak today and provided a vision of the future.

People in this episode

Host: Kevin Stroud

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: vision

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The History of English Podcast podcast page.