Full Description
This volume comprises essays in lexicography, lexicology and semantics by leading international experts in these fields. The contributions cover Old, Middle and Present-Day English and Scots, and specific subjects include medical vocabulary, colour lexemes, and semantic and pragmatic meaning in terms for politeness, money and humour. In the area of Old English studies there are articles on kinship terminology and colour lexemes, and in Middle English a semantic and syntactic study of the overlapping of the verbs dreden and douten. Many of the essays make use of the Historical Thesaurus of English project at the University of Glasgow, and pay tribute to its Director, Professor Christian Kay; e.g., one article demonstrates how the HTE, a project which is at the interface between historical semantics and lexicography, may present a rich resource for information about the lexicalization of concepts within our culture, such as changing social attitudes in the area of will, consent and coercion. Other resources, such as The Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English, and the Oxford English Dictionary provide a rich source for information on historical lexicography, semantics and editing. A number of essays concern the Scots language, such as an analysis of evaluative terms in modern Scots speech and writing, the rich potential of rhyme in Scots, and the role of lexicon in th- fronting in Glaswegian.
Contents
Introduction
C. P. BIGGAM: Old English colour lexemes used of textiles in Anglo-Saxon England
Julie COLEMAN: Slang terms for money: a historical thesaurus
Fiona DOUGLAS and John CORBETT: 'Huv a wee seat, hen': evaluative terms in Scots
Philip DURKIN: Lexical splits and mergers: some difficult cases for the OED
Andreas FISCHER: Of fæderan and eamas: avuncularity in Old English
Roger LASS and Margaret LAING: $ho:fian{*}/vK2: a LAEME-based lexical study
Caroline MACAFEE: The rhyme potential of Scots
Terttu NEVALAINEN and Heli TISSARI: Of politeness and people
Michiko OGURA: ME douten and dreden
Jane ROBERTS: What did Anglo-Saxon seals seal when?
Jeremy J. SMITH: Notes on the medical vocabulary of John Keats
Jane STUART-SMITH and Claire TIMMINS: 'Tell her to shut her moof': the role of the lexicon in TH-fronting in Glaswegian
Louise SYLVESTER: Forces of change: are social and moral attitudes legible in this Historical Thesaurus classification?
Irma TAAVITSAINEN: Key word in context: semantic and pragmatic meaning of humour
James MCGONIGAL: Lexicographical Lyrics
Notes on the Contributors
Tabula Gratulatoria
