Louise Sylvester

The multilingual context of medieval Britain has been a focus of historical linguistic scholarship for some time, but Middle English has often been examined in isolation. This book analyzes a large dataset of English vocabulary from the late Middle Ages, a time when the language was gaining new importance, with attention paid to parallel lexical developments in French and Latin. It explores lexical and semantic innovations and losses, and its findings challenge the notion that native and borrowed words were in competition during the period. The book presents a new picture of ongoing bilingualism in the late medieval period and a growth in vocabulary that heralded the beginnings of standardization in English.

A bibliography of studies of individual Middle English words and groups of words offering evidence for word meanings. Although detailed and full bibliographies exist for Old English word studies, this is the first specifically on Middle English lexicography, focussing on studies of individual Middle English words and groups of words which offer evidence for word meanings: ante- and post-datings for the Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, missing entries and ghost words, possible proverbs, proposals for etymologies, wordplay, punning, new readingsin manuscripts and the reinterpretations of textual cruces. It first presents an annotated bibliography arranged alphabetically by author's name and date of publication; the annotations include notes on the contents and approach of each article, cross-references to related work, and references to reviews. Two indexes follow, the Index of Words, an alphabetical listing of words that have attracted significant discussion with references to the author(s), publication date and notes of pages on which the words are discussed; and an Index of Authors. The introductory section offers critical analyses of the word studies. Professor JANE ROBERTS and Dr LOUISE SYLVESTER teach atKing's College London.