Words Derived from Old Norse in Early Middle English: Studies in the Vocabulary of the South-West Midland Texts

Revising his 1997 Ph.D. dissertation for Oxford University, Dance grapples with a number of questions concerning the considerable borrowing of words from various Scandinavian languages in the English dialect spoken and written in western England, far from the Danelaw where Scandinavian influence is easily explained. He examines texts from the late 12th to the late 13th centuries, among them Ancrene Wisse , Layamon's Brut , and selected Lambeth Homilies. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)