The Lexical Effects of Anglo-Scandinavian Linguistic Contact in Old English by Sara M. Pons-Sanz (review)

Sara M. Pons-Sanz’s comprehensive study of the first Norse-derived terms to be recorded in the English language beautifully illustrates how methodologically rigorous philological studies can inform modern linguistic theory and continue to shed fresh light on old questions. The book elucidates why certain Norse loans were adopted in the first place, what triggered their use in particular contexts, and at what point they ceased to be regarded as foreign. More broadly it treats the Norse loans as clues that provide insight into Anglo-Scandinavian sociolinguistic relations during the late OE period.

Chapter 1, the introduction, outlines the study’s scope and some of the methodological problems research of this nature faces, such as the virtual absence of written records in Old Norse from the relevant period, which obscures our knowledge of Viking Age Norse both generally and with regard to its dialectal variance. The close linguistic similarity between Old English and Old Norse also problematizes the identification of the loans themselves. Based on phonological, morphological, and contextual evidence, Chapter 2 provides detailed etymological discussion of the terms for which a Norse derivation has been claimed in the literature. The lexico-semantic study in Chapter 3 of the terms discussed in Chapter 2 starts by exploring the chronological and dialectal distribution of the loans before moving on to analyze their integration in terms of coreness and periphery within the OE lexicon. The relative degree of integration of the Norse-derived terms within their lexico-semantic field (e.g., craft and trade, law, navigation, etc.) is considered, as are the semantic and stylistic relations that existed between the Norse-derived terms and their OE equivalents (where they existed).

Chapter 4 examines the Norse-derived terms in the OE texts in which they occur (e.g., Ælfric’s works, Aldred’s glosses, The Battle of Maldon, etc). This contextual approach allows for an exploration both of what the texts tell us about the loans and what the use of the loans in particular texts tells us about the sociolinguistic situation that triggered their use. Based on the findings of the study, the concluding chapter draws general conclusions as to the sociolinguistic interaction between speakers of Old English and Old Norse.

A major part of the monograph comprises four impressively detailed appendices. A full list of all the Norse-derived terms attested in OE texts appears in Appendix I. Appendix II explains the chronological and dialectal origin of the texts where the Norse terms are recorded. In Appendix III the author details arguments in favor of a native origin for a number of terms whose origins have traditionally been considered Scandinavian. In Appendix IV Pons-Sanz addresses the problematic issue of assigning texts written during the transition period between Old English and Middle English to one period or the other by considering the possible Norse derivation of terms recorded in texts that might be considered Early Middle English rather than Old English.

The greatest accomplishment is the study’s methodological approach. By providing a textual and contextual analysis, and an explanation of how the terms functioned within their lexico-semantic fields, Pons-Sanz’s research goes far beyond the restricted word-list approach of previous studies. This methodology enables Pons-Sanz to paint a far more nuanced appreciation of Anglo-Scandinavian sociolinguistic relations, without losing sight of the individual histories of the loans under scrutiny. Pons-Sanz argues that there were already signs in the OE period itself of the evolution away from an initial predominance of technical loans toward the adoption of more everyday terms: a shift traditionally viewed as characterizing the difference between the type of Norse loans adopted during the Old English period and that of Middle English. Pons-Sanz argues that the technical nature of the first Norse-derived terms to be recorded in OE...