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He may be known for his romantic sonnets, but William Shakespeare was a master of rude insults too.

Now a lost bawdy song used in his early comedy, Love's Labour's Lost, has been discovered that mocks the sexual failings of one of the characters.

While such discoveries are usually found in dusty, long-lost manuscripts, this one was revealed thanks to analysis of one word in the play - 'Concolinel' -  that has baffled scholars for years.

A lost bawdy song from his early comedy, Love's Labour's Lost, has been discovered that mocks the sexual failings of one of the characters. An expert says that the word Concolinel is the misspelled title of the song Qvand Colinet, which is about a penis that's 'too soft and too small'

The play, which was written in the 1590s, centres around Ferdinand, the king of Navarre in Spain and his three noble companions, the lords Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville.

They pass an order that men should avoid women for three years while they focus on their studies.

But shortly afterwards, a visiting Spanish courtier called Don Adriano de Armado, tells the king of a tryst between Costard, a rustic, and Jaquenetta.

The play, which was one of Shakespeare' early comedies, written in the 1590s, centres around Ferdinand, the king of Navarre in Spain and his three noble companions, the lords Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville. A portrait of the bard is shown left and the title page of the first quarto, published in 1598, right

Costard is imprisoned and Don Armado confesses his love for Jaquenetta. 

The Spaniard frees Costard on the condition he sets her up with him.

'Warble, child; make passionate my sense of hearing,' love lorne Armado asks his servant Moth at the start of Act III.

And the line after it, just reads 'Concolinel'. 

However, the text indicates that Moth is meant to sing a song based on the word.

It is this word that has scholars scratching their heads for so long.

'Identical in both quarto (1598) and First Folio editions of the play, the "Concolinel" puzzle has confounded commentators for centuries, and interpretations for the word Concolinel have been suggested in various languages, including Italian, French, and Gaelic,' according to a new study published in the journal Shakespeare Quarterly.

The study's author, Ross Duffin, a professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, may have solved the puzzle, LiveScience reports. 

He said that the word has been understood to represent a song, which became lost because the lyrics were not written down

'This article proposes that "Concolinel" is a mistranscription of "Qvand Colinet," a popular French song first anthologised in 1602,' he writes.

The word Concolinel, spoken by the character Moth, has confuded scholars for years, but it now appears it represents a rude song that was used to mock Ferdinand, the king of Navarre (pictured centre) in a modern interpretation of the Elizabethan play

The bawdy ballad was about a penis that is 'too soft and too small'.

Professor Duffin suggests Moth would have sung it to mock Armado, who doesn't understand the song or that his servant is making fun of him.

It's not known if the whole of the song was sung during performances of the time, or whether it was enough for the actors to make passing reference to it.

Professor Duffin is an authority on the use of songs in Shakespeare's plays and said that he commonly refers to popular songs in his works, sometimes neglecting to record the lyrics to the most well-known ones.

'Concolinel' was so difficult for experts to identify because the publishers of the play distorted its French spelling and based the word on how it sounded in English instead. 

It is not known if the rude song was sung in full or simply referenced in performances of the time. The earliest recorded performance of the play occurred at Christmas in 1597 at the Court before Queen Elizabeth, who is painted in this portrait listening to the bard reading her a poem

As well as being a similar sound, Professor Duffin thinks his theory is correct because its content fits so well with Moth's character, who frequently makes fun of Armado, who fancies himself as a great lover.

'The close coincidence of the publication dates of the French chanson and the quarto of Love's Labor's Lost, the aptness for the situation in the play, and certain textual associations help to confirm the connection,' he writes.

Moth later asks his master whether he plans to win Jaquenetta's heart with a French song, hinting that the ditty was French, and not Italian as other scholars have previously suggested.

Professor Duffin thinks that Shakespeare's version of the song would have included Jaquenetta's name – a device he uses in other plays.

'Without much of a stretch, the repeated line "Et sa belle iaquette" could be construed as "And his pretty Jaquenetta," he writes.

The tune of the song remains a mystery, but professor Duffin thinks it may have been sung to the tune of Sellenger's Round.

'Clues to the song's original tune lead to a period melody that sets the lyric quite satisfactorily and that may have provided the original setting,' he writes.