The political and cultural history of the English language is not simply the history of the British Isles and of North America, but also the history of some societies which have driven the language to change. Much of the vocabulary words of Old English has been lost and new words were born. Change of some words in meaning can be illustrated in the Shakespearean language, for example Nice in Shakespeare's time meant foolish; rheumatism signified a cold in the head. Richards and Rodgers (1986) emphasize that English is nowadays the most studied foreign language, but five hundred years ago, Latin was dominant in terms of education, commerce, religion and government in the western world.