Abstract
The Gersum Project has significantly developed our understanding of Norse-derived terms in English by providing a highly systematic typology for their identification. However, this article shows that, in order to fully comprehend the lexical impact that Anglo-Scandinavian contact had on medieval English, we need to go beyond the identification of the Norse-derived terms and explore their process of integration into English. To exemplify the benefits of this approach, the article analyses the make-up of the lexico-semantic field ofemotion, particularlyfear, in the texts attributed to theGawain-poet, and examines the interaction between native, Norse- and French-derived terms. This analysis moves away from the traditional study of the texts’ vocabulary in relation to their sociohistorical context, considering the terms instead from semasiological, onomasiological and stylistic perspectives. By taking this novel approach, this article addresses key linguistic and literary topics: the formal and semantic factors that facilitated the integration of Norse-derived terms into this lexico-semantic field and, more broadly, the impact that multilingualism had on the expression of emotions in medieval England; diachronic and diatopic variation in the field; and theGawain-poet's artistry and interest in fear as a key emotion closely linked to other affective and cognitive processes.
Highlights
Old Norse was an important source of loans for the vocabulary of medieval English, as a result of Anglo-Scandinavian contacts before the Norman Conquest
The introduction of Norse-derived terms was most probably facilitated by the similarity between Old Norse and Old English, but the close connections between the languages significantly complicate the process of identification of Norse-derived terms in English
The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, which I co-lead with Richard Dance and Brittany Schorn, has aimed to revolutionize our understanding of the Norse-derived terms attested in English
Summary
Old Norse was an important source of loans for the vocabulary of medieval English, as a result of Anglo-Scandinavian contacts before the Norman Conquest. In order to establish their impact on the vocabulary of medieval English, the discussion necessarily has to move next to their process of integration and accommodation into English, in terms of their sociolinguistic (dialectal and sociolectal) distribution and, closely linked with this, the semantic and stylistic relationships that the terms established with their near-synonyms This step is difficult because our research is necessarily restricted by our limited data and lack of direct access to contemporary informants. Analysis of the make-up of particular areas of vocabulary and inter-textual comparisons, as this paper hopes to demonstrate It examines the integration of Norse-derived terms into the lexico-semantic field of EMOTION ( the subfield of FEAR) in the idiolect of the fourteenth-century Gawain-poet. After an explanation of various methodological decisions (section 2), the discussion focuses on the formal and semantic factors that facilitated the poet’s lexical choices (sections 3.1 and 3.2, respectively), as an indication of some of the issues at play in the integration of the terms into their lexico-semantic subfield
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