Shakespeare uses both “supper” and “dinner” (I think of Caliban saying, “I must eat my dinner.”) For me, the words are interchangeable. But I know that there are distinctions depending on where you come from. One example I can think of is Dinner being like a big lunch and Supper, the lighter evening meal. But I imagine there are more distinctions. What I’d like to know is A) were there any distinctions between supper and dinner that Shakespeare might be making? Were they interchangeable for him? Or his contemporaries? and B) Was there any perception of these concepts in Denmark at the time?
Is it Suppertime?
The Hamlet Project 