Norse-Derived Vocabulary in Late Old English Texts: Wulfstan's Works, a Case Study (North-Western European Language Evolution)

This book focuses on the Norse-derived vocabulary in the works of Archbishop Wulfstan II of York (d. 1023). A considerable advantage derives from studying Wulfstan's compositions because, unlike most Old English texts, they are closely dateable and, to a certain extent, localizable. Thus, they offer excellent material for the examination of the process of integration and accommodation of Norse-derived vocabulary in Old English. After establishing the list of terms which can be accepted to be Norse-derived, this book analyses their relations with their native synonyms, both from a semantic and a stylistic point of view, and their inclusion in the word-formation processes to which Wulfstan submitted his vocabulary, native and borrowed alike. The information derived from this approach is used to explore the possible reasons for the archbishop's selection of the borrowed terms and the impact which his lexical practices had on contemporary and later English writers. NORTH-WESTERN EUROPEANLANGUAGE EVOLUTION - Supplement vol. 22 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 CONTENTS 6 LIST OF TABLES 12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 14 ABBREVIATIONS 16 INTRODUCTION 20 CHAPTER 1 - WULFSTAN’S CANON AND STYLE 26 CHAPTER 2 - TERMINOLOGY AND PROCEDURAL DECISIONS 51 CHAPTER 3 - WULFSTAN’S NORSE-DERIVED LEGAL VOCABULARYI: THE LAGU WORD-FIELD 87 CHAPTER 4 -WULFSTAN’S NORSE-DERIVED LEGAL VOCABULARY II: THE GRIo WORD-FIELD 144 CHAPTER 5 -WULFSTAN’S NORSE-DERIVED LEGAL VOCABULARY III: REMAINING TERMS 178 CHAPTER 6 -OTHER NORSE-DERIVED TECHNICAL TERMS IN WULFSTAN’S WORKS 192 CHAPTER 7 -REASONS FOR THE PRESENCE OF NORSE-DERIVED VOCABULARY IN WULFSTAN’S WORKS 212 CHAPTER 8 - WULFSTAN’S IMPACT ON THE LEGAL LANGUAGE 250 CONCLUSION 277 BIBLIOGRAPHY 280 WORD INDEX 324 "This book focuses on the Norse-derived vocabulary in the works of Archbishop Wulfstan II of York (d. 1023). A considerable advantage derives from studying Wulfstan's compositions because, unlike most Old English texts, they are closely dateable and, to a certain extent, localizable. Thus, they offer excellent material for the examination of the process of integration and accommodation of Norse-derived vocabulary in Old English."--Jacket