Gemstēn and other Old English Pearls - A Survey of Early Old English Loanwords in Scandinavian

NORTH-WESTERN EUROPEAN LANGUAGE EVOLUTIONNOWELE

VOL. 50/51 FEBRUARY 2007

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF SOUTHERN DENMARK

Peder Gammeltoft & Jakob Povl Hoick

GEMSTÉN AND OTHER OLD ENGLISH PEARLS - A SURVEY OF EARLY OLD ENGLISH LOANWORDS

IN SCANDINAVIAN

1. Introduction

This article has developed from a number of discussions between the authors on loanwords and, not least, their treatment in Danish and Scandinavian historical linguistic discourse. In some ways this article represents a break with the traditional Danish and Scandinavian scientific approach to loanwords, in others it represents a much needed update of established knowledge.Much of the current, scholarly well-founded loanword research goes

back to the early 20th century. Naturally, new knowledge has come to light since then and new approaches to language have emerged. It is, nonetheless, surprising that the origin of loans appear to have been determined from form and meaning alone. Within a modern research tradition, the apparent lack of phonological, morphological and syntactical criteria by which one may determine the origin of loanwords is highly unsatisfactory. It is also unsatisfactory to note that the results and findings of early 20lh-century scholars remain unchallenged and still enter, more or less undigested into modern works on language and loanwords (cf. Hansen & Lund 1994:58-59).Without trying to reinvent the wheel, this article will be a (re)evaluation

of the early English influence on the Scandinavian languages but with the focus partly on the criteria by which one may determine an English origin for a loan, and partly on the borrowing processes. Determining the origin of early loanwords in the Scandinavian languages is no straight-forward venture and problems and possible solutions will be discussed here.The reason for focusing on early loans from English is not to over

emphasise this material. Instead, early English loanwords have been chosen as a test case owing mainly to their limited number. The fact that early English loanwords also represent a relatively poorly researched

131

PEDER GAMMELTOFT & JAKOB POVL HOLCK

group of loans has not been a determining factor in any way. Thus, the aim of this article is not to find as many early loans from English as possible, but rather to furnish the Scandinavian loanword discourse with the tools necessary to determine the origin of loans.But first let us move on to the linguistic enigma that started the

writing of this article:

2. An enigmatic and rare find

The introduction to the manuscript Thott 710, 4t0- a medieval medical book ascribed to the famous Danish author Henrik Harpestræng - contains the curious phrase: At gømstenæ kastes ey for swin ('That precious stones are not thrown before pigs'). The manuscript is dated to c. 1450 and claims to have copied the text from that of Harpestræng's medical book.1 The context of the phrase clearly shows that the phrase itself is the work of the transcriber/collator of the medical book and not of the alleged author Henrik Harpestræng2 himself:

LTJhennæ bogh eer sammen sat aff wisæ læghæs kennædomæ aff the tyngh ther offtæ prøwætæ æræ Som // eer constantinus / galienus / Henrik harpæstrengh och andræ wisæ mesteræ / oc for thi skullæ the tyngh gørlæ gømes ther wisæ men sammæn sættæ At gømstenæ kastes ey for swyn / oc the ther tørftaleghæ æræ wændes ey bian daræ tel spot oc flym (Hauberg 1982:152-153 [our highlighting])

The phrase itself is uncomplicated. It is modelled on one of the better known quotations from a Biblical verse, namely Matthew 7:6, which in modern Danish reads:

Matth 7:6.Giv ikke hunde det hellige, og kast ikke jeres perler for svin, for at de ikke skal trampe dem ned med deres ben og så vende sig om og sønderrive jer.

And in the King James version:

Matth 7:6.Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

132

A SURVEY OF EARLY OLD ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN SCANDINAVIAN

In comparing the Harpestræng phrase with the two Bible quotations above, it is immediately clear that the Harpestræng phrase is slightly 'imprecise' in its meaning. Thott 710, 4t0 uses the Old Danish (ODa) word gemsten which means a 'precious stone', whereas the modern Bible versions instead use the words perler and pearls. If we go to the original Greek and Latin Bible texts (see Table 1, below), the words used are Greek papyapnag 'pearls' and Latin margaritas 'pearls'. The modern Bible versions can here be seen to be direct translations of the original Greek and Latin Bible texts, as they make use of the words perler and pearls, respectively, for Greek papyapnag 'pearls'3 and Latin margaritas 'pearls'.The Old Danish (ODa) word gemsten is only recorded as meaning

a 'precious stone' and never a 'pearl', for which the ODa word peerle would be expected. Gemsten is itself a loan from Old English (OE) gimstän, whose meaning 'gem, jewel, precious stone' corresponds to ODa gemsten. Thus, one cannot but be puzzled by the use of gemsten in this context, especially considering that the Henrik Harpestræng medical manuscripts were widely copied and distributed within an ecclesiastical environment. It must be considered unlikely that clerics of the High Middle Ages did not know this phrase and the exact wording of its source. It is, therefore, possible that the curious wording of this well-known phrase has its origin from another source.The various versions of Matthew 7:6, however, seem very consist

ent in the use of 'pearls' for Greek papyapizag and Latin margaritas regardless of language4 and period. The only instances where it has been possible to find a wording other than that of 'pearls' are in the 1756 Ogden translation of the Bible (see Table 1, below) and in the Lambeth Homilies of c. 1225.5 The former may readily be disregarded on account of it being a late Bible version from the Baptist movement. The Lambeth Homilies are, however, earlier but relatively contemporary with Harpestræng and the Thott 710, 4t0 manuscript.

133


Language/source Date Matthew 7:6Greek c. 350 Mf| 8wxe t o dyiov xoig k d g i v , jariös ßa?tr|xe

TODg iiagyapitag Ojirov epTtQOGØev xtov % o !q (o v , (ir|xcoxe KaTa7taxr|OODGiv auxouc; év xoiq rcoolv auxæv Kai GXQa évxeq q t^ cogiv u|ia<;

Latin (Vulgate) 405 Nolite dare sanctum canibus neque mittatis margaritas vestras ante porcos ne forte con- culcent eas pedibus suis et conversi disrumpantVOS

OE (W.-Saxon) 990 Nellen ge syl ßaet hilige (sic) hunden.ne gewur- pen eowre meregroten toforeneowren swinen. ßy læs hye mid hyra fotanhyo tofortredan. & hyo ßanne ne ongeanne wend eow toslyten.

eME (Lamb.Horn.) 1225 Ne sculen je nawith y ms to nes leggen swinen to mete.. .V2

ME (Wycliffe) 1395 Nile ye yyue hooli thing to houndis, nethir caste ye youre margaritis bifore swyne, lest perauenture thei defoulen hem with her feet, and the houndis be turned, and al to-tere you.

eMnE (Tyndale) 1534 Geve not that which is holy to dogges nether cast ye youre pearles before swyne lest they treade them vnder their fete and ye other tourne agayne and all to rent you.

eMnE (King James) 1611 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

eMnE (Ogden) 1756 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, or put your jewels before pigs, for fear that they will be crushed under foot by the pigs whose attack will then be made against you.

Table 1. A chronological representation of Latin and English versions of Matthew 7:6.

134

I


The phrase from the Lambeth Homilies 135 is as follows: Ne sculen 3e nawith imstones leggen swinen to mete, i.e. a direct parallel of the Danish At gømstenæ kastes ey for swin. When comparing the phrase from the Lambeth Homilies with earlier and later Matthew 7:6 renderings, the Lambeth Homilies phrase seems to represent a mistranslation of Greek gapyapiraq and Latin margaritas ’pearls' with eME 3imstones 'gems, jewels, precious stones' (see table 1). All of the English versions, apart from that of the Lambeth Homilies translate Greek jiapyapizaq and Latin margaritas with OE mere-grotenf ME margaritis, MnE pearl(e)s, respectively. All these words carry the meaning 'pearls'. Why the Lambeth Homilies chose to use the word 3imstones instead of one for 'pearls' can only be surmised, but the fact remains that the very same wording turns up in a slightly later Danish text. And given the rarity of the phrase in ME, an English origin not only for the word but for the whole phrase must be assumed. Furthermore, it is also possible to postulate that the Lambeth Homilies constitute the model or trigger for the Danish phrase (cf. Gottlieb 2004:45), although the origin of the phrase in English is somewhat unclear, as is the time for its transition into Danish.In terms of tracing loanword origins, it is often very difficult, if

not impossible, to determine the original model/trigger for a certain borrowed word or phrase in the original language. That it is possible to point to a probable origin for the Thott 710, 4t0 manuscript in the Lambeth homilies relies solely on the rarity of the expression but it offers a rare glimpse into the environment of early English-Scandina- vian contact, one which - in this case at least - appears to stem from a learned ecclesiastical environment.It is not surprising that OE loanwords appear in early Scandinavian

texts. During the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages, the contact between Scandinavia and Britain was extensive. In the wake of the Scandinavian settlement of the Danelaw and the Scottish Isles, Danish hangs became major players on the English political scene in the 11th century. This led, in turn, to an Anglo-Saxon influence on Scandinavia. For instance, Bishop Sigfrid of Växsjö is said to have come to Norway in 995 and then to Skara, where he lived until c. 1030. An English bishop, Grimkell, is known to have been bishop under king Olav the Holy in the first quarter of the 11th century. Similarly, Canute the Great sent English missionaries to Denmark after his conquest of England

135


in 1018. Slightly later Odense's Monastery of Set. Canute was created by Erik Ejegod in 1096. From the start, it housed 12 English monks who had arrived at the monastery from Evesham. Interestingly, the two 'English' bishops mentioned carry the specifically Scandinavian names of Sigfridr and Grimkell, implying that they were probably of mixed Scandinavian-English descent — both names were current in the Danelaw in the llth-12th centuries (Fellows Jensen 1968:107-108, 231).Archaeological evidence also suggests that the Danish kings' con

quest of England was instrumental for a shortlived but relatively intense contact with England and English (material) culture. This is especially to be seen from archaeological finds, where there are only few traceable English artefacts from Danish settlements prior to c. 1000, whereas there is a surge of goods from the early years of the 11th century which lasts for a couple of generations (Pedersen 2004:43-67; Roesdahl 1980:247-248; Roesdahl, forthcoming).7

3. Problems of determining the origin of foreign elements in Scandinavian Medieval texts.

Seen against this background, it is understandable that loanwords from OE occur in the Scandinavian languages. The subject has attracted a fair amount of attention, particularly in the first half of the 20th century. People like Absalon Taranger (1890), Marius Kristensen (1906), Ellen Jørgensen (1908), Frank Fischer (1909), Tage Ahldén (1945:7-21), and not least Carl-Eric Thors (1957:9-664) have all researched foreign influences on early Scandinavian society. When reading such thorough and scholarly works, it is surprising to note that the tracing of loanword origins is apparently done without paying much attention to linguistic developments in the language from which the loanwords originate (cf. esp. Kristensen 1906 and Thors 1957), and neither is there much space devoted to discussing types of loans and their adaptation to the borrowing language (completely absent from e.g. Kristensen 1906 and Thors 1957 (see. Ch. 3.2., below)). In most cases, it appears that the origin of loans is determined from form and meaning alone. This apparent lack of the use of phonological, morphological and syntactical criteria for determining the origin of loanwords

136


is highly unsatisfactory, not only seen from a modern perspective but when these works were written.In an effort to improve on this situation, the remainder of this article

will evaluate the early English influence on the Scandinavian languages with a focus partly on both the criteria by which one may determine an English origin for a loan and on the borrowing processes. Determining the origin of early loanwords in the Scandinavian languages is not as straightforward a venture as the above-mentioned authors will have us believe. These problems and their possible solution will be discussed below.

3.1. Foreign language adaptation in medieval Scandinavia

Contact between individuals, groups and communities often leads to a seemingly automatic adaptation and assimilation of language elements. A particular institution may further the use of particular language elements in a language community, just as different means of transport and communication may increase the speed and widen the area of the adaptation/assimilation process.In the Middle Ages the institutional 'tools' of language standardiza

tion were more or less non-existent. The teaching of appropriate reading and writing was carried out locally - for example in monasteries. A monk travelling from e.g. Italy to Scandinavia would most likely spend weeks, possibly even months on his journey - meaning that any 'update' with new foreign language material, e.g. the latest Latin medical terminology or German hymns, would take a very long time.Similarly, a loan could also be borrowed from several languages and

several sources at the same time. Thus, a loan could well be facing competition from more or less similar cognates (in form and meaning), as well as being under pressure to assimilate to the language system of the borrowing language. The form of a loan in a medieval manuscript may thus not only depend on the degree of integration into the borrowing language, it may also rely on the writer/transcriber/collater's own language competence and more or less intentional adaptations of the form of the loan to its form in the borrowing language, or possibly the ultimate origin of the loan or to a cognate of the same loan originating from another, non-borrowing language.

137


Figure 1. External pressure on a loan in the adaptation process.

Since there were neither the resources for nor the means of effectively and speedily co-ordinating regional language assimilation strategies in the Middle Ages, there was room for a great deal of linguistic variation, as documented in the preserved medieval manuscripts. The medieval scribes would typically gain their knowledge of (foreign) vocabulary and (foreign) orthography from numerous written sources of different dates, languages and origins (cf. Hoick 2002:246-247). The result may be an inter-textual patchwork of more or less intentional adaptations of foreign elements (see Figure 1)

3.2. Textual problems - The question of loanword traceability

The medieval Scandinavian scribes were not entirely consistent in using one orthographic code (possibly because of persistent exposure to a great variety of written sources) when transcribing, translating or paraphrasing written material from abroad. The same word could be spelled in several ways in one and the same text. For instance, in the medical manuscript of SKB K 48, Latin Calx is translated as ODa. kalkæ lim (Kristensen 1908-1920:85). The signs c (representing the

138


sound k) and k are here allographical variants of one another. This is relatively unproblematic, but in the introduction to the same text it says: Calx, calkælim (Kristensen 1908-1920:5). Here, it seems probable that the writer has assimilated the form of the Danish word to the Latin norm, i.e. the Danish word has been 'corrected' on analogy with the Latin, as shown by the fact that the letter c has been used in both words.Clearly, the regional orthographic variation in the preserved medieval

manuscripts does prescribe extreme caution when trying to establish the precise paths of any given loan into the Scandinavian languages on its form alone.8 For one thing it is evident that a great number of the individual characters of the Roman alphabet had several possible sound values in the Middle Ages — and still have - depending on the type of language community in which the writing system is used. Similarly, several Latin letters could also be used for one and the same sound value. Since we do not have recordings of the spoken language of this period, an accurate tracing of any given loan would largely have to be based on correspondence in orthographic appearance.This would seem to leave room for false connections, esp. when deal

ing with words that apparently were spelt alike in Old Danish, Old English (OE) and Middle English (ME) as well as Middle Low German (MLG), etc. Considering the fact that many of the direct sources of the preserved Scandinavian texts are unknown and also that a major part of the manuscripts are compilations of several texts and genres, it becomes clear that it is extremely difficult to draw a direct line from one particular word form in a Scandinavian manuscript to a similar word form in OE, MLG, etc.Individual orthographic variation is also a problem to be considered.

This is a problem which really overshadows all the other analytical challenges. Why should a medieval scribe bother to use an Old English or Middle Low German orthographic form when for example translating a Latin text into Danish? Compare: ODa rosæ, MLG rose, OE rose, Latin i'ösa (Cf. A-S Diet. 1898:802; DEO 1969:313). According to Kristensen (1906:41), ODa rosæ is derived from the MLG form. In fact, the most plausible explanation would be a direct Danish modification of the Latin word in the process of translating the manuscript. Considering the close similarity between forms, the outcome of a direct Danish modification of the Latin word could well resemble a Middle

139


Low German or Old English form. The close resemblance of the Latin, ODa, OE and MLG forms, however, must lead one to conclude that the language from which the word has been transmitted must remain uncertain. The result of Kristenscn's categorical derivation, has, on the other hand, led to direct copying by later etymologists and researchers without questioning the value of Kristensen's derivation (Cp. DEO 1969:313, PolEO 2000:534 and PolNDOME 2000:1157).As mentioned above, Marius Kristensen (1906) has noted that sev

eral foreign expressions preserved in ODa manuscripts from the time around 1300 A.D. came from languages like OE and MLG, a phenomenon that according to Kristensen can be traced in the orthography of the Danish texts.However, Kristensen does not explain his method of identifying the

loanwords and their paths into Danish and he is, at the same time, rather firm in his derivations of loans. An example would be ODa moræ (Pastinaca sativa, L.) which according to Kristensen is derived from MLG more. The word however is also known in the OE form more - which can be compared to the ME form which forms part of the word wolemore (Cf. A-S Diet. 1898:697). Thus it would seem difficult to reach a decisive conclusion about the word's path to Denmark.One must also take into consideration that one or more spelling

errors on behalf of the Scandinavian medieval scribe(s) will most certainly spoil any modern attempt at detailed etymological analysis. In theory, the consistent Danish, Swedish or Norwegian use of a vowel that was slightly different from the vowel of the adapted loanword could possibly lead modern scholars of language history to believe that other look-alike foreign forms had been used as models, even though this was not the case. On the other hand, a relatively high frequency of particular orthographic forms of loanwords in medieval Scandinavian manuscripts may lead to the conclusion that these words had indeed already been assimilated and standardized in the target language.

4. Criteria for determining the origin of loanwords from OE

The Old English language holds a special position in comparison with other Germanic languages. Not only did OE undergo far greater

140


phonological changes and develop differently, morphologically and syntactically, from its continental counterparts, it also seems to have been in closer contact with Celtic (both p-Celtic and q-Celtic). The early acceptance of Christianity in England has also allowed many Christian loans in OE to undergo radical developments.This chapter will be an overview of how developments specific to OE

may be utilised to determine an OE origin for a loan in Scandinavian. Thus, only OE developments which differ from Scandinavian ones will be discussed. The various areas of developments in OE may be divided into the following sections dealing with phonological developments (4.1.), morphological and syntactical developments (4.2.), semantic developments and extensions (4.3.).The ultimate goal of any linguist tracing loanword origins is to

establish a direct and clear connection between the loanword and its source, thus illuminating all links in the chain of language transfor- mation/adaptation through time. To use a legal phrase, the loanword origins - if at all possible - must be traced and identified 'beyond reasonable doubt'.Normally it is necessary for several sources to share distinctive lin

guistic criteria to constitute the evidence of a positive identification. However, the uniqueness of one source or criterion may in some situations be conclusive as well. It should be noted that the uniqueness of a source only survives until identical or otherwise similar sources are found, thus making a re-evaluation of the loanword transmission process necessary.As pointed out above, the origin of many loanwords cannot be de

termined by form and meaning alone. Thus a modern approach to loanword origins typically includes a comparison between the phonological, orthographical, morphological, and syntactical evidence - and the contextual/circumstantial evidence. In situations where there are several possible origins of a loan it is necessary to list all possible origins and all possible languages of transfer.

4.1. Phonological features that may function as distinguishing criteria

OE differs on a number of points from its West Germanic (WG) and Scandinavian counterparts. Some of the phonological changes, e.g.

141


i-umlaut, were common to all Germanic languages, but most wereparticular to OE. Vowels as well as consonants were affected, some byisolative (automatic) changes, others by combinatory circumstances.Below are listed the most important phonetical developments in OE:

OE vowel developments:

a) Germ a > OE æ in most cases,9 ex. OE dæg [dæ3l 'day' (< W G *da- gaz).

b) Germ a + nasal > OE o + nasal in some cases, ex. OE mann/monn [man/mon] 'man'.

c) Germ e + m > OE i + m, ex. OE niman [nimanj 'to take' (cp. OHG neman).

d) Germ short vowel + nasal + s, f, p > OE long vowel + s, f, p, ex. OE ff[fi:f| 'five' (< W G

e) Germ a + nasal + s, f, p > OE ö + s, f, p, ex. OE söfte [so:fteJ 'softly' (cp. OHG samfto).

f) Germ ä > OE æ [æ:],10 ex. OE lætan [læ:tan) 'to permit' (cp. OHG läzzan).

g) Germ ai > OE ä, ex. OE stdn [sta:n] 'stone' (< W G *stainaz).h) Germ au > OE ea, ex. OE hléapan [hle:apan] 'leap' (cp. Goth

hlaupan)

OE consonant developments:

i) As a rule, Germ sk [ski > OE sc [J], ex. scip [/ip | 'ship', fisc [fi/] 'fish'.11

Before original front vowels, palatalisation of:j) Germ k- [k-] > OE c [tj-], ex. OE cinn [tjin] 'chin' (< W G *kinn-).k) Germ g- [g-] > OE g [j-], ex. OE gellan [jellan ] 'to yell' (< W G *ga/-

Ijan).12Additionally, palatalisation of -k-, followed by i or 7, palatalisation

of:l) Germ -k- [-k-1 > OE c [tj-], ex. OE cirjpe [t/iritje] 'church' (< W G

*kirika).m) Germ w- [w-1 was retained in front of back vowels in OE, ex. wulf

[wulf] (< W G *wolf).

142


As is evident from the above examples, the potential number of distinguishing phonological features between OE and Scandinavian is substantial. The question is whether the features specific to OE are transferred into Scandinavian. Generally speaking, all loans are adapted to the phonemic system of the receiving language. In cases where there is overall correspondence in phonemic values, transfers are normally unproblematic. Only in cases where the phonemic system of the receiving language does not correspond to that of the language of origin of the loan should we expect substantial changes in phonemic value.

4.1.1. Transfer of OE vowel sounds into Scandinavian.

In terms of OE loans, there is seemingly a general difference between how OE vowel sounds are transferred as compared with consonant sounds. With the vowels, there is a general tendency for them to be transferred (more or less) unchanged into Scandinavian, as modern Norwegian såpe 'soap' (< ON sapa, f. < OE sdpe f. (cp. OHG seifa)) and modern Danish stræde 'alley' (< ODa stræte 'highway, alley' < prob. OE stræt (cp. MLG straat)),13 although there is also a general laxity in the representation of OE vowels in Scandinavian, especially those which do not have direct equivalents (such as OE ea, ea, eo, eo, ie, le). Here, the general correspondence in vowel values between OE, on the one side, and ON, ODa and OSw seemingly accounts for the general uncomplicated transfer of vowel sounds from OE to Scandinavian.

4.1.2. Transfer of OE consonant sounds into Scandinavian.

Certain OE consonant features, namely palatalisations, do not seem to be transferred into Scandinavian. Seen with today's eyes, it seems somewhat surprising that OE consonant developments do not seem to have been transferred. For instance, ODa kirkiæ, probably transferred from OE cyrice, has an initial hard stop consonant [k] and not a palatal [tj], such as in the OE original. The OE sound [tj] has been replaced with the Scandinavian stop k. The reason for this must be

143


that this palatal variant did not exist in Scandinavian at the time of borrowing. Considering that almost all Scandinavian loans of OE (and OHG) origin have been 'depalatalised', i.e. the original palatal sounds are always represented by the correct non-palatal variants in Scandinavian, the user groups handling the first stage of the loans must have been competent bilingual speakers. On the other hand, in the few conditions where palatal sounds existed in ON, ODa and OSw, e.g. before a, such as in ON kjarr and ODa kiar, 'bog, scrub, brushwood', we do find some evidence of the palatal sounds having been transferred. Note e.g. the medial consonant sound of ODa kirkiæ and ON kirkja, which seems to have palatal character {-ki-l-kj-), albeit seemingly not of entirely the same palatal value as OE. However, it should be considered whether lack of transfer of palatal sounds may be owing to a greater role being played by the written medium in the transmission of loans than has hitherto been considered, as OE (and OHG) did not represent palatal sounds differently from non-palatal ones in writing.The only other OE consonantal feature which has a theoretic

al chance of being transferred is the occurrence of w- before back vowels. However, since all West Germanic languages retain this feature, the occurrence of a loanword in Scandinavian with w- + back vowel cannot be taken as proof of an OE origin, only a general W G origin. Loans with initial w- + back vowel are rare, but the form of the ODa word woll 'bank, rampart', shows that it was borrowed from WG, possibly MLG wall 'embankment, rampart, coastal bank'.

4.2. Morpho-syntactic features that may function as distinguishing criteria

In a few instances, it may be possible to suggest the origin of a loan if e.g. the gender of a loan corresponds to one occurring in one of several possible languages. This criteria is, however, not terribly reliable, as gender correspondences between two related languages may be owing to common origin rather than to a contact situation. In other cases, gender correspondences may be put down to pure coincidence! It, therefore, goes without saying that this criterion should only be

144


applied as indicative of origin and preferably only in cooperation with other criteria.An example of the usability of the feature may be ODa nön, n.'15.00

hours'. The word may be a loan from virtually any Germanic language, as well as possibly from Latin. However, the word occurs in most W G languages in a disyllabic form, nöna (OSax) or none (OHG), as in the Latin origin. The only languages in which a monosyllabic form, non, occurs outside of Scandinavian are OE and OSax. Of these, the former takes the neuter gender (and some times the masculine gender14), whereas the latter is only found in the feminine form. A gender correspondence thus indicates an OE origin of Scandinavian nön/nön, n., a possibility which is strengthened by similarities in syllabic structure. Although the evidence for an English origin of this word is inconclusive, the circumstantial evidence does point in this direction.

4.3. Semantic developments and extensions that may function as distinguishing criteria

Language is in constant development and in particular word-stock is prone to develop new and modified meanings. Such developments may occur locally as well as regionally. Thus words of the same origin may quite easily differ semantically in different languages. Depending on the type of word, word-class and semantic range, the semantic differences of words of similar origin between languages may be great or small. Relatively great is for instance the meaning of the word grine between modern Danish and modern Norwegian. Both words originate from a Common Scandinavian word *grin- 'to make an opening, to open one's mouth'. In Danish the word has developed into the meaning 'to laugh out loud, to giggle', whereas the word in Norwegian has acquired the almost opposite meaning of 'to cry, to weep'.Whatever the size, when a difference in meaning once peculiar

to one language suddenly occurs in another language, it is a strong indication of language contact between the two languages. For instance, the Danish word dyr generally means 'an animal'. The word also carries the meaning of 'a deer',15 as in the compounds dådyr,

145


krondyr and rådyr16 which do not carry the meaning of 'doe-animal', etc., but rather that of 'doe-deer', etc. In Jutish, in particular West Jutish, the meaning of dyr is 'red-deer', Lat. Dama dama, just as much as 'animal',17 and when somebody tells you that e.g. Hansen har lige skudt et dyr, it is immediately obvious to the local listener that Mr. Hansen had shot himself a red-deer and not just any kind of animal, such as a pig, goose or hamster. The word dyr is of common Germanic origin, apparently originally with the meaning of a 'breathing being' (DEO 1969:75; Bjorvand & Lindeman 2000:166- 167). In all Germanic languages the derived word generally means 'animal'. In OE, however, deör also developed the meaning 'deer' (as well as 'wild beast1, mostly used in contrast to domestic animals). Since only Scandinavian and English has this specialised meaning, it is presumably owing to contact with OE that the meaning occurs in ODa and ON. The fact that other words for game animals, such as då (< OE da 'doe')18 and Jutish brok (< OE broc 'badger') have been borrowed from OE, makes a similar origin for dyr in the sense of 'deer' plausible.

As can be seen from the above sections, the means by which it is possible to distinguish a loan from OE from all other early medieval languages are relative few and uncertain. The reason for this must be sought in the close relationship between OE and the other WG languages on the one part, and on the other, the relatively close ties between W G and Scandinavian. Additionally, a large number of loans from other Germanic languages are cultural and religious loans, mostly from Latin and Greek, which have themselves had only a brief period of existence in their new W G language environment before being transferred on into Scandinavian. This means that a large number of loans from esp. Latin but also Greek have only undergone minimal change (often only to the morphological endings) before cropping up in Scandinavian, making it very hard in most cases to determine whether the word has been borrowed from a Germanic language or whether it derives directly from the Latin or Greek source.The close ties between Scandinavian and the neighbouring lan

guages pose serious problems in determining the origin of loanwords, and in many cases it cannot be determined for certain where a loan

146


originates from but only that it derives from two or more possible languages.

5. Means of adapting OE elements into the Scandinavian languages

In most standard works where early loans in Scandinavian are discussed, it seems almost as if OE loans are solely of one specific type, the direct transfer (cf. Hansen & Lund 1994:58-59), with only a minimum of adaptation, although a few 'translated loans' - as Kristensen (1906:23) terms them - such as etserkop 'spider' (< OE ätorcoppe 'spider') are known and listed. However, studies of modern language contact have shown that the strategies of adaptation are far from simple, let alone of one single type or two. There is no reason to assume that the interference situation between OE and Scandinavian was any different. The following sections will try to establish whether it is possible to determine different types of interference and discuss various types of transfer from OE into Scandinavian.

5.1. Direct transfers

The most common type of loan is the direct transfer, or 'outright transfer of phonemic sequence', as Weinreich (1974:47) calls it. With this type of interference words, phrases and expressions are borrowed in unanalysed form and usually (but not always) treated as stems in the borrowing language (Thomason & Kaufmann 1991:37). The morpheme carrying meaning is usually transferred with only a minimum of phonetic adaptation. Morphemes indicating case, gender and number, on the other hand, are not transferred in the same way. Being usually placed at the end of words, such morphemes are in some cases dropped, in others retained. If retained, they are always adapted so as to be able to function within the borrowing language. In general, the more important the morpheme of a word, the greater the likelihood of it being transferred unanalysed in a contact situation (cf. Weinreich 1974:31). Morphological endings, on the other hand, have normally only meaning within the functioning language, and this alone probably accounts for most of the outright changes in transferred words.

147


The treatment of transfers can be illustrated in the following way:

Stem only transfer examplesOrigin Transferred formOE clauster n. 'monastery' ON klaustr n. 'monastery'OE cristendöm m. 'chistianity' ODa cristen döm m. 'Christianity'OE cyrßlle f. 'chervil' ODa kyruæl, f. (?) 'chervil'OE cyln 'kiln' ODa kylnæ f. 'kiln'OE da m. 'cloe' ODa då, m./f.(?), Da då 'doe'OE handlin n. 'handcloth, napkin' ON handlin, ODa/OSw handlin n.

'cloth belonging to a priest's garment'OE mylen m. 'mill' ODa mylnæ f. 'mill'OE non n./m. '15.00 hours' ODa non, ON non n. '15.00 hours'OE pipor m. 'pepper' ODa pipær m. 'pepper'OE pæll m. 'cloak, costly robe' ODa pæl, ON pell n. 'costly robe1OE recels n. 'incense' ODa rekelsæ, (var. form of ODa

røkilsæ found in Harpestræng)OE street f. 'road, town road, street1 ODa strdete n. 'road, town passage

way' (possibly < OFris stretel)OE sæperige f. 'savory1 ODa sathær f.(?) 'savory'Stem + V morpheme transfer examplesOrigin Transferred formOE cleöfa m. 'cell, chamber' ODa klæue m. (?) 'chamber'OE cristnian vb. 'to baptize' ODa cristnæ vb. 'to baptize'OE cyrice f. 'church' ODa kirkiæ f. 'church'OE insigle n. 'seal, signet' ODa insighle n. 'seal'OE læee m. 'physician, leech1 ODa læki m. 'physician'OE msesse f. 'church service, mass' ODa mæssæ f. 'mass'OE sdpe f. 'soap, salve' ON sdpa f. 'soap'OE söfte adv. 'softly, gently' ODa softælik adv. 'softly'OE understandan vb. 'to understand' ODa undær standæ vb. 'to understand'

148


The majority of loans are appellatives, of which s£e/n-transfers account for the bulk of loans. The stem-transferred appellatives are usually 1:1 transfers, such as OE pipor vs. ODa pipær 'pepper'. The stem only transfers consist mostly of strongly declined appellatives, and as such it seems unsurprisingly that the transfer here often appears to be completely unanalysed. In a number of instances, however, the transferred form has had a V-morpheme added in the process of adaptation, such as in OE stræt vs. ODa stræte 'road, etc.' or OE mylen vs. ODa mylnæ 'mill'. We can thus observe that an original OE strongly declined word may well change to being weakly declined, and a change in gender is also often also the case, cp. e.g. OE stræt f. and ODa s£ræ£e/ON strcéti n. In modern Danish, as in the other Scandinavian languages, there is a tendency to borrow loans in a weak form where a strong-weak declension possibility exists, i.e. particularly among verbs (cf. Jarvad 1995:75). The tendency apparently goes as far back as to ODa, although the tendency was less then pronounced than it is today. Still, the changes in declension show clearly that a certain amount of analysis does occur also with so-called straight transfers. Nonetheless, many transfers seem to have been problem-free, which is perhaps a result of the proximity of origin between OE and OScand rather than blind acceptance of loans.This is further supported by the observation that a greater number

of changes in gender seemingly occur within the strongly declined appellatives (cp. e.g. OE padl m. vs. ON pell n. 'costly robe') than is the case with the stem + V group, where this never, or only very rarely, seems to occur. The reason here is that the weakly declined appellatives in OE and OScand are very similar, having similar V-morphemic declension principles. Only in a very limited number of cases does a weakly declined OE appellative become transferred into OScand as an appellative of the strong declension, but OE cyrfille vs. ODa køruæl could be seen as an example.As mentioned above, most of the loans are substantives and only a

few loans belong to other word classes. The few verbs, adjectives and adverbs that are known to have been borrowed, are, however, rather interesting, as they help to supply us with a more rounded picture of the degree of mutual understanding of OE and OScand. For verbs like OE cristnian 'to christen' and understandan 'to understand' to get transferred into e.g. ODa, all it takes is a replacement of the OE inflexional morpheme -ian or -an by ODa -ee. In OE, adverbs were

149


usually formed from adjectives by the means of adding -e, as in e.g. OE söfte adv. 'softly, gently'.19 When the word is borrowed into ODa, it has had an ODa adverb (and also adjective) marker -lik added, to softælik. For some reason, however, the OE adverb marker -e has seemingly not been replaced with the ODa equivalent -lik, rather the ODa adverb marker appears to have been 'glued' onto the entire OE adverbial expression. As such this could be seen as a sign of a lack of OE-ODa language proficiency. On the other hand, however, ODa sathær, which is seemingly a loan from OE sæferige, has probably attained its Scandinavian form owing to a wish to have an unambiguously appel- latival appearance, for which reason the adjective-like -ige form of the OE source has been dropped. Sæfcer'ige is in OE itself a noun and not an adjective. The adjectival appearance in OE results from the word being a loan from Latin satureia.When looking solely on the mass of direct transfers, it would seem as

if there is a relatively high degree of OScand-OE bilingual proficiency, where the borrowing person(s) are mostly capable of borrowing according to the correct word-class, gender and type of declension, with a tendency to choose the 'simplest' declension-solution possible. Only in rare cases are original inflexional morphemes transferred together with meaning-carrying morphemes as one unit, as in the already discussed example of softælik. In such cases it would seem that the borrowing user/user-group does not have sufficient bilingual skills to analyse/decode all the components of a word, expression or phrase. However, occurrences like these appear to be very rare.

5.2. Loan translations

A relatively high number of OE loans have entered into Scandinavian in the form of translations, full or partial translations (see 5.3. below), and really in much greater numbers than has hitherto been accepted. With loan translations proper, no foreign morphemes are transferred into the borrowing language. The interference occurs when foreign morpheme expressions are identified with Scandinavian ones so that a foreign word may be translated morpheme by morpheme into Scandinavian. The result is thus a new morpheme combination in Scandinavian with the expressive content of the foreign word.

150

A SURVEY OE EARLY OLD ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN SCANDINAVIAN

In this way, the elements of the OE word leodbiscop m. 'suffragan bishop', leode 'people' and biscop 'bishop' are identified with those of ON lydr 'people' and biskop 'bishop'. The new ON expression lydbiskop carries the same meaning as its OE cognate, which shows the origin of the expression very well, as the literal translation of the expression is 'bishop of the people' and not 'bishop subordinate to the archbishop'. Similarly, ON gudspjall carries the meaning 'gospel, evangelium' in the sense of'good tidings', although the combination of the individual morphemes ON guö and spjall really means that of'God's tidings' (see footnote 19).Relatively certain examples of loan translations from OE to Scan

dinavian are:

Examples of loan translationsOrigin Translated formOE bellhüs n. 'bell-tower' OSw kloknahüs n. 'bell-tower'OE gelæred 'learned (in the scriptures)'

ODa lærthær, ON lærdr 'learned (priest)'?

OE godfæder m. 'Godfather' ON gudfadir, OSw gupfafir, Da gudfader m., 'Godfather'.

OE godspell n. 'gospel, evangelium'

ON gudspjall n. 'gospel, evangelium'20

OE handcläp n. 'handcloth, towel'

ON handklædi n. 'cloth belonging to a priest's garment, handcloth'

OE récelsfæt n. 'censer' OSw rökilsakar n. 'censer'OE herestræt f. 'military road, highway1

ODa hærstrætæ f. 'highway' (possibly < OFris hiristi'éte?)21

OE hereweg m. 'highway, army road'

Da hærvej 'highway' (possibly < OFris heerweP)

OE *hwltsunnandæg m. 'Whitsunday'

ON hvitasunnudagr m. 'Whitsunday'

OE leodbiscop m. 'suffragan bishop'

ON lydbiskop m. 'bishop subordinate to the archbishop'

OE mununc lif n. 'monastic life' ?ON place-name Munkalif n.OE scriftspræc f. 'confession' ON skriptamal n. 'confession,

confessional penance'

151


The above examples illustrate very well that with loan translations only the individual morpheme expressions and not the content of the loan itself are translated. The combined expression and its content are often one and the same, i.e. the loan is a transparent loan but that is obviously not what loan translations are concerned about. It seems that it is more important to attain the correct morpheme identification in the translation process. The examples also illustrate that loan translations are the result of a deliberate process of morpheme identification and substitution. The substitution of OE morphemes with those of Scandinavian ones is usually very precise, in spite of a few apparent mistranslations from the OE original, as illustrated by ON gudspjall for OE godspell (see footnote 19). For instance, the Norwegian monastery of Munkeliv (ON Munkalif) must derive in one way or the other from OE mununc Ilf n. 'monastic life'. However, since * munkalif is not recorded as an appellative in ON, it must have been formed as a place-name directly from OE.

5.3. Partial loan translations

In a number of cases, however, the OE-Scand interference has resulted in Scandinavian words which contain both an indigenous element as well as a foreign one. All such instances consist of two morphemes, mostly compound appellatives. Of exceptions may be mentioned ODa røkilsæ 'incense' which is a partial translation of OE recels 'incense', in so far as it is only the first morpheme of réc 'reek, smoke' which is translated with ODa røk 'smoke', the OE derivation ending -els is left virtually unchanged (having received only minimal phonological and morphological adaptation). Otherwise, compound appellatives dominate this category. In some cases, like OSw kantarakäpa 'cantor's cope' only the final morpheme is translated, whereas only the initial morpheme in ODa næsæ thyrl has been translated. Generally speaking, partial loan translations figure less prominently than transfers and pure loan translations:

152


Examples of partial loan translationsOrigin Translated formOE ättorcoppe m. '(poisonous) spider'

ODa éterkop m. 'spider' (ODa éter + OE coppe (prob, mistaken for ODa kop 'something swollen'))

OE *canterecæppe f. 'cantor's cape'?

OSw kantarakäpa f. 'cantor's cape',ON kantarakapa f. 'altar-cape' (OE cantere + OSw käpa (if a genuine transl. loan, *kantor- kdpa to be expected))

OE godspell n. 'gospel, evangelium'

ON gudspell n. 'gospel, evangelium' (ON gud + OE spell) cf. gudspjall in 4.2., above.

OE *hundredcyrice f. 'district church'

OSw hundariskirkia f. 'district church', an older term for Sw häradskyrka.(NB! may be an indigenous construction of OSw hundare + OSw kirkia, cf. KLNM 7:78)

OE nospyrel, n. 'nostril' (also variant forms: nasupyrel, næsfryrel)

ODa næsæ thyrl n.(?) 'nostril' (ODa næsæ + OE pyrel)

OE recels n. 'incense' ODa røkilsæ, ON reykelsi n. 'incense'(ODa røk, ON reykr + OE ending-els)22

OE ærcebiscop m. 'archbishop' ODa ærkebiskop m. 'archbishop' (OE ærce + ODa biskop)

In some cases the translations seem to be possible 'mistranslations, such as in the case of OE ättorcoppe 'spider', literally probably 'poisonous spider',23 where the final element OE *coppe 'spider' may have

153


been mistaken for ODa kop 'something swollen', cf. MDa kopper 'pox'. However, it must be borne in mind that our knowledge of the Scandinavian lexicon in medieval times relies entirely on what texts have been preserved today. Thus, ODa *koppe 'spider' may have existed without our knowledge, so we cannot be entirely sure about such matters.

5.4. Semantic extensions

On the whole, semantic extensions - i.e. cases in which indigenous words acquire an additional or extended meaning from interference with another language — seem to be rather rare. Part of the reason for this is that our textual material is too meagre for us to say anything certain about the development of the semantic meaning of words. Another part of the reason has to do with the close proximity of origin of OE and the Scandinavian languages. This means that original Germanic words in many cases had not had time to develop separate meanings in OE and Scandinavian. Thus semantic interference from OE to Scandinavian should not be considered to be a very prominent feature. One of the clearest examples is that Da dyr which, in addition to the general 'animal, living creature which is not human', also means 'deer'. Since OE is the only W G language in which this development occurs, it seems likely that the occurrence of a similar partial meaning in Scandinavian is the result of interference from OE. Additional examples may exist but they are few and require in-depth investigation.

6. Concluding remarks

As is obvious from the above sections, the range of loans from OE to Scandinavian amount to more than mere transfers (with a few additional ill-defined types of loans) as recognised by e.g. Marius Kristensen (1906). Not only are there far more transfer loans, the range of interference also amounts to loan translations, full and partial, as well as some semantic interference, too. This is what the OE-Scandinavian interference amounts to on the linguistic level. On the semantic level, the influence of OE on the Scandinavian language covers a relatively narrow range of semantic fields. The most important spheres of in

154


terference seem to be those relating to 1) courtly life and royal power and to 2) Christianity and religious life.The former is by far the smallest and least systematic. Among the

loans are terms for rank and position - mostly in function as by-names, such as Knud Lavard (< OE hläford 'lord'), as well as infrastructure, e.g. stroete (< OE strait 'road, town road') and hærstræte 'highway' (probably < OE herestrdet 'military road, highway'). A relatively large number of loans seem to relate to the royal pastime of hunting, such as då, ODa da 'doe' (< OE da), Jutish hrok 'badger' (< OE broc), as well as the semantic extension of Da dyr 'deer' from OE déor 'deer, red-deer'. To this category could possibly also be counted rå, ODa rå 'roe', although this word might instead be of inherited word-stock.Loans relating to Christianity and religious life are by far the greatest

single sphere of contact. Within this category should be noted the various specialised terms relating to Christian religious life, such as: church buildings (e.g. OSw kirkia < prob. OE cyrice 'church'), religious objects (e.g. OSw rökilsakar 'censer' < prob. OE récelsfæt 'censer'), religious personae e.g. ODa ærkebiskop 'arch bishop' < OE ærcebiscop), terms for church services (e.g. ON skriptamdl 'confession' < prob. OE skriftspræc) and religious periods (e.g. ON hvitasunnudagr 'Whitsunday' < OE :!:hwitsunnan- dæg), etc. Religious life was, however, not the only thing associated with the incoming Christianity. A number of related areas, such as learning and medicine should probably also be seen as aspects of 'religious life'. OE Christian interference thus seems responsible for medical terminology like ODa Iceki 'doctor, physician' (< OE Icece), ONsdpi 'soap' (< OE säpe) etc.On the learned side, the Harpestræng phrase which opened this

article may serve as a suitable example of the learned inter-textual interference from English in the early Middle Ages. Considering the specialised use of gemstén in: at gømstenæ kastes ey for swin is only mirrored in one single textual example from an early Middle English manuscript, it is very likely that the phrase has an English origin. In fact, the English origin seems to be acceptable on a number of levels. Not only is the phrase seemingly a translation of the passage: Ne sculen xp nawith 3imstones leggen swinen to mete in the Lambeth Homilies, the Danish phrase also contains a loan, a partial loan translation, namely gemstén. As such, the phrase: at gømstenæ kastes ey for swin not only seems to show various types of interference from English, it also gives us a glimpse of the complex mechanisms related to this early period of

155


contact with English, a complexity of contact which is not far removed from today's English influence enjoyed by Scandinavian.

It is impossible to form a full picture of the kind or extent of the foreign influences on Danish and Scandinavian in early medieval society. As pointed out previously the preserved written sources only form a fragmentary picture of the contact situation in medieval Scandinavian society as a whole. This clearly makes the modern scholarly approach a relative one. It is always necessary to question the representativity of any preserved medieval Scandinavian text containing foreign word elements. Particularly if the foreign word elements do not seem to appear in contemporary writings from the same language society setting.Considering the possible reasons for a scribe to adapt a foreign

word element, it seems evident that particular needs and currents in society have influenced the writing process and/or oral adaptation. Additionally, there is also the individual scribe/language user's reasons for adaptation, which are in principle infinite and changing from one situation to another and solely depending on the situation and context. It must also be assumed that the given reasons for adaptation would also influence the manner of adaptation, thus making the output of the adaptation process almost endlessly complex.Hopefully, this article will renew the interest in the early loans in

Danish and Scandinavian and result in the process of determining the origin of a loanword extending to being more than merely a comparison of form and meaning. The processes of loanword adaptation is one of considerable complexity — as has hopefully come to light here - a complexity which appears to have been somewhat ignored by 'old school' scholars such as Marius Kristensen.Hence the scientific value of loanword investigation does not neces

sarily lie as much in concrete conclusions of origin as in the process of pointing out the complexity of the topic.

Name Research Section Præstelunden 23Department of Scandinavian Research DK-4100 RingstedUniversity of Copenhagen Njalsgade 136 DK-2300 Copenhagen S

156


Notes

1. Thott 710 4t0 is dated as follows: 28r-33r: c. 1500; 27v, 38r-41v: c. 1450 (original hand):The Danish of the document is more archaic than what would be expected of c. 1450-1500. It must therefore be considered relatively certain that the manuscript is itself a transcript of an older manuscript (Hau- berg 1937:19; Hoick 2002:206, 232).

2. Although this phrase is thus not the work of Harpestræng himself, the phrase will be referred to as the 'Harpestræng phrase', as the Thott 710 4t0 document is usually termed 'Harpestræng's medical book'.

3. Mapyapnpg = margarites 'pearl', derived from gr. margaros 'pearl- oyster'.

4. E.g. Modern German:Gebt nicht das Heilige den Hunden; werft auch nicht eure Perlen vor die Schweine, damit sie diese nicht etwa mit ihren Füßen zertreten und sich umwenden und euch zerreißen.

and Modern French:Ne donnez pas les choses saintes aux chiens, et ne jetez pas vos perles devant les pourceaux, de peur qu'ils ne les foulent aux pieds, ne se retournent et ne vous déchirent.

5. Morris, Richard, Old English Homilies I, EETS OS 29 & 34, (New York, 1969).

6. The meaning of OE meregrota, m. is stated in A-S Diet., p. 680, to be 'pearl', but the equivalent OE meregrot, n. carries the more original meaning 'pebble of the sea' besides that of 'pearl'. A similar meaning must be assumed for OE meregrota, although unrecorded.

7. Søren Michael Sindbæk pers.com. 19/5 2006; Else Roesdahl pers.com. 29/5 2006.

8. Cf. e.g. Skautrup 1944:216: 'Men om kvaliteten og kvantiteten af disse enkelte lyd kan vi strengt taget kun gøre os forestillinger ved en tilbageslutning fra nutidsforhold, hvor vi kan foretage sammenligning mellem tegnet (bogstaven) og lyden, og selv om vi ikke ved af noget brud i udviklingen siden Valdemarstiden, er det klart, at vi ved en sådan reguladetri, hvor de kendte størrelser ligger i forskellige tidehverv, kun i grove træk og med forbehold tør opstille et lydskema.'

9. Except when in open syllables preceding a, u, o, Ö; when followed by w or a nasal.

10. Except when followed by w, p, g, or c. When followed by a nasal, Germ ä becomes ö in OE, cp. OHG mänod vs. OE rnonap.

11. Except in the combination Germ skr [skr].12. Similarly, Germ -k-, -g-, -kk-, -gg-, -nk-, -ng- also underwent palatalisa

tion when originally followed by i, I or j:

157


Germ -k- |"-k-] > OE -c- [-t/-], ex. OE besecan [bese:tjanj 'beseech' (< WG *bisökjcin).Germ -g- [-g-] > OE -g- [-j-], ex. OE byrig [byrij I 'town, burgh' (< WG *burgi).Germ -kk- [-kk-] > OE -cc- [-t/-], ex. OE wicce [wit/e] 'witch' (< WG*wikkjön).Germ -gg- [-gg-] > OE -gg- [-(I3-], ex. OE hrycg |hryd3] 'ridge' (< WG*hruggjaz).Germ -nk- [-nk-J > OE -nc- [-ntj-], ex. OE bene [bent/] 'bench' (< WG *bankjö).Germ -ng- |.-ng-] > OE -ng- |-d3-], ex. OE sengan [send,3an] 'singe' (< WG *sangjan).

13. Both stræde and strade seems to have been current in medieval Denmark, particularly in Jutland, where both forms occur in area names and settlement names, e.g. Strægårde, Nørre Nebel sogn, Ribe amt vs. Strade, Vinding sogn, Ringkøbing amt, and Strat, Hunderup sogn, Ribe amt.

14. Cf. A-S Diet. Suppl.:654 gives the gender of OE non as'm. (not n.)'; some of the examples given clearly show masculine declension — most examples, however, may be in either the masculine or neuter gender.

15. Similarly in Norwegian, cf. Bjorvand & Lindeman 2000:166-167.16. And also in the Da food words dyreryg 'saddle of venison' and dyrekølle

'leg of venison'.17. Cf. however PolNDOME 2000:307, where a sub-meaning of dyr is listed

as 'rådyr', i.e. the species Capreolus capreolus, Eng. Roe (however, not given as meaning in PolEO 2000).

18. The etymology of Danish rå, ODa ra, is normally taken originate from Common Germanic *räihö-, cf. Bjorvand & Lindeman 2000:749. This form, however presupposes a normal development to Da *re or *ræ [ræ:]. As such, the word would more easily be explained as a loan from OE rd(ha) 'roe'. Cp. also OE räh-deör 'roe-deer' with Da rådyr with the same meaning.

19. The modern English -ly ending is really an original OE adjective ending -lie with an added OE adverbial -e ending. Already in OE, there was a tendency to view -lice as an adverbial marker, and with the general loss of final -e in ME, the -lice > -ly ending became the only means with which one could distinguish adverbs from adjectives (cf. Kisbye 1992: 93).

20. The OE wordgodspell is really a direct translation of Greek/Latin evangelium 'good tidings', whereas ON guÖspjall literally means 'God's tidings'. ON is seemingly a mistranslation of OE, but only apparently so, as long vowels in OE, like ö in göd 'good', are normally shortened before certain consonant clusters, among others ds (cf. Kisbye 1992: 66). Therefore, the first syllable in OE godspell was probably conceived as

158


being OE god 'God' and not göd 'good1; the translation of OE godspell with ON gudspjall is thus only wrong in the etymological sense.

21. Cf. Jørgensen (1979: 31-32) for an alternative origin of both hærstræde and hærvej. According to Jørgensen both words are of German origin (Low German?) and the first element of the compound is German heer 'lord, master', which has later been misconceived as Da hær 'army'. Although a Low German/Old Frisian origin is formally possible, the association of the first element with the meaning of 'lord, master' must relate to the wish of establishing a direct connection to the Latin gloss of e.g. hærstræde with via regia 'regal road' (heer 'master' = king). As Jørgensen, however, notes himself, there is seemingly no distinction between via regia and via publica in Danish medieval infrastructural terminology, as both meant 'regal road' ('kongevej'). There thus seems no reason to postulate a meaning of the first element other than that of OE here and ODa hær 'army'.

22. The rise of the ending ODa -ilsæ, Da -else, is normally taken to be owing to influence from Low German (Hansen & Lund 1994: 64), although this instance rather suggests an OE source of influence. There is little doubt, however, that the popularity of the ending is owing to Low German influence.

23. Cf. MnE cobweb 'spider's web', where the first element seems to be that of OE *coppe 'spider'.

Bibliography

Ahldén, T. 1945. 'Sprachliches Fremdgut im ältesten schwedischen Landrecht', Niederdeutsche Mitteilungen 7:7-21.

A-S Diet. = An Anglo-Saxon dictionary, based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth. Edited and enlarged by T. Northcote Toller. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882-1898 [Reprinted. 1973. Oxford: Oxford University Press],

A-S Diet. Suppl. = An Anglo-Saxon dictionary, based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth. Supplement. By T. Northcote Toller. Oxford: Clarendon Press, [1921].

Bjorvand, H. & Lindeman, F.O. 2000. Våre arveord. Etymologisk ordbok. Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning. Oslo.

DEO 1969 = Niels Åge Nielsen Dansk etymologisk ordbog. 2. reviderede udgave med et tillæg. København: Gyldendal.

Fellows Jensen, G. 1968. Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincoln and Yorkshire. Copenhagen: Akademisk forlag.

159


Fischer, F. 1909. Die Lehnwörter des Altwestnordischen. Berlin.Gottlieb, H. 2004. 'Danish Echoes of English'. Nordic Journal of English

Studies. Special Issue. Vol. 3, no. 2:39-65.Hansen, E. & Lund, N. 1994. Kulturens gesandter - fremmedordene i dansk.

København: Munksgaard.Hauberg, P. 1937 (1982). Lægebøger med tilknytning til Henrik Harpestræng.

Theriaca XXII, Samlinger til Farmaciens og Medicinens Historie. Dansk Farmacihistorisk Selskab. København.

Hoick, J.P. 2002. Middelalderens danske lægebog-et kontaktfænomen. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis. Københavns Universitet.

Jarvad, P. 1995. Nye ord - hvorfor og hvordan? København: Gyldendal.Jørgensen, B. 1979. Stednavne og samfærdselshistorie. Navnestudier 18.

København: Akademisk Forlag.Jørgensen, E. 1908. Fremmed Indflydelse under den danske Kirkes tidligste

Udvikling. Det Kgl. danske Videnskabers Selskabs Skrifter. 7. Række. Hist.-Fil.afd.: 1,2. København: Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri.

King James Bible = The bible. Authorized King James Version, with an introduction and notes by Robert Carroll and Stephen Prickett. 1997. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kisbye, T. 1992. A short history of the English language-, edited by Knud Sørensen. Århus: Aarhus University Press.

KLNM = Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder: fra vikingetid til reformationstid. København 1956-1978: Rosenkilde & Bagger. 21 vols.

Kristensen, M. 1906. Fremmedordene i. det ældste danske skriftsprog (før omtr. 1300). København: Det shubotheske Forlag.

Kristensen, M. 1908-1920. Gamle danske Urtebøger, Stenbøger og Kogebøg er: Harpestræng. Udgivet for Universitets-Jubilæets Danske Samfund. København: Thieles Bogtrykkeri.

Lambeth Homilies, see Morris, R. 1969.Latin Vulgate Bible = Biblia. Sacra; Vulgatae Editionis Sixti V. et Clementis

VIII. 1861. Roma.Modern French Bible = Segond, L. 1910. La Sainte Bible qui comprend

l Anden et le Nouveau Testament traduits sur les textes hébreu et grec. Paris.

Modern German Bible = Brockhaus, C., Darby, J.N., von Poseck, J.A. & Voorhoeve, H.C. 1871. Die Eberfelder Bibel. Witten: R.Brockhaus Verlag.

Morris, R. 1969. Old English Homilies I. EETS OS 29 & 34, New York: Greenwood Press.

Ogden Bible = Ogden, M. 1756. Holy Bible in English. London: Thomas Baskett.

Pedersen, A. 2004. 'Anglo-Danish contact across the North Sea in the eleventh century: a survey of the Danish archaeological evidence'. In: J. Ad-

160


ams & K. Holman (eds.), Scandinavian and Europe 800-1350. Contact, conflict and Coexistence. Turnhout: Brepols. P. 43-67

PolEO 2000 = Politikens etymologisk ordbog. København: Politikens Forlag. 2000.

PolNDOME 2000 = Politikens nudansk o?'dbog med etymologi. København: Politikens Forlag. 2000.

Roesdahl, E. 1980. Danmarks vikingetid. København: Gyldendal.Roesdahl, E. (forthcoming). England-Denmark in the eleventh century. Sue

Margeson Memorial Lecture. Norwich, England, April 19th, 2005.Skautrup, P. 1944. Det danske sprogs historie, 1: Fra Guldhornene til Jyske

lov. København: Gyldendal.Taranger, A. 1890. Den angelsaksiske kirkes indflydelse paa den norske.

Kristiania.Thomason, S.G. & Kaufmann, T. 1991. Language contact, creolization and

genetic linguistics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Thors, C.-E. 1957. 'Den Kristna Terminologien I Fornsvenska'. Studier i

Nordisk Filologi 45:9-664.Tyndale Bible = Tyndale, W. 1534. The newe Testament / dylygently cor

rected and compared with the Greke by Willyam Tindale: and fynesshed in theyere ofoure Lorde God A. M. D. &. xxxiiij. in the moneth ofNouem- ber. Antwerp.

W.-Saxon Bible = Skeat, W. et al. 1887. The Gospel According to Saint Mathew in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Old Mercian Versions, Synopti- cally arranged, with Collations Exhibiting all the Readings of all the Mss. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weinreich, U. 1953. Languages in contact — Findings and problems. New York: Linguistic Circle of New York.

Wycliffe = Forshall, Rev. J. & Madden, F. 1850. The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, with the Apochryphal Books, in the earliest English Versions made from, the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Manuscript references

SKBK48 Thott 710, 4to

161

Gemstēn and other Old English Pearls - A Survey of Early Old English Loanwords in Scandinavian

Documents

Transcript of Gemstēn and other Old English Pearls - A Survey of Early Old English Loanwords in Scandinavian