Old Norse derived adjectives in Middle English: Stylistic overtones or a lack of diffusion?

Abstract

Some adjectives in Middle English transferred from Old Norse are restricted in their attestation only to texts pertaining to the religious sphere. Such restrictions might be reflective of more peripheral semantic layers of those lexemes or their stylistic overtones (cf. Timofeeva 2018ab), but might moreover even more likely indicate their lack of diffusion within the English speech community.

To distinguish which is the case for a particular lexeme one may rely on the analysis of its context of occurrence in Middle English (cf. Dance 2003), and on the usage and distribution comparisons with its source form in Old Norse.

Keywords

• Old Norse
• Old English
• Middle English
• language contact
• lexical influence
• distribution
• semantics
• comparative methodology