<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article presents the results of a study of functional, semantic and chronological issues concerning Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems. The semantic group under investigation consists of 184 words, comprising 24.5% of the total number of loan-blends within the semantic group of Middle English occupational terms, and 8% of the total 2,417 Middle English occupational terms. 97 loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems were revealed on the basis of proper names. They constitute 13% of all Middle English occupational terms. a predominance of the function of identification and a very active usage with the aim of identifying people in medieval society prove loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems to be very popular. The data obtained in the study prove the very high level of popularity of Scandinavian borrowings in Middle English, as well as a prevalence of the names of artisans among all the semantic groups of the word stems. We noted an increase in the number of derivatives first attested in the 13th and the 14th centuries, whereas a decrease in the process of word formation on the basis of Scandinavian borrowings is noticed in the 15th century.</p></abstract>

The article presents the results of a study of functional, semantic and chronological issues concerning Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems. The semantic group under investigation consists of 184 words, comprising 24.5% of the total number of loan-blends within the semantic group of Middle English occupational terms, and 8% of the total 2,417 Middle English occupational terms. 97 loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems were revealed on the basis of proper names. They constitute 13% of all Middle English occupational terms. a predominance of the function of identification and a very active usage with the aim of identifying people in medieval society prove loan-blends with Scandinavian word stems to be very popular. The data obtained in the study prove the very high level of popularity of Scandinavian borrowings in Middle English, as well as a prevalence of the names of artisans among all the semantic groups of the word stems. We noted an increase in the number of derivatives first attested in the 13th and the 14th centuries, whereas a decrease in the process of word formation on the basis of Scandinavian borrowings is noticed in the 15th century.

Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems: Functional, semantic and chronological issues

Topics in Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The article presents the results of a study of functional, semantic and chronological issues concerning Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian...

Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems: Functional, semantic and chronological issues

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 80 - 108

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0011

Keywords
chronological stratification, common noun, lexical borrowing, loan-blend, occupational term, proper noun

© 2020 Oksana Dobrovolska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Middle English occupational terms with Scandinavian word stems: Functional, semantic and chronological issues

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 80 - 108

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2020-0011

Keywordschronological stratification, common noun, lexical borrowing, loan-blend, occupational term, proper noun

© 2020 Oksana Dobrovolska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
chronological stratification, common noun, lexical borrowing, loan-blend, occupational term, proper noun