Anglo-Norman words

Last month, we discussed the presence of loanwords from Irish in Anglo-Norman, and this month, we would like to look further into the linguistic contact between Anglo-Norman and Celtic languages – this time focusing on Welsh. While there has been considerable research into the influence of (Anglo-)French on the Welsh language, particularly in the literary sphere, linguistic contact between the two languages in the administrative and judicial spheres remains relatively poorly studied [1] .  Among the materials and sources used for the compilation of the AND we find two editions that bring together documents written in Wales by Welshmen: the Calendar of Ancient Correspondence Concerning Wales , and the Calendar of Ancient Petitions Relating to Wales . The former contains mainly records of correspondence between the English royal court and nobles in Wales, while the latter provides evidence of petitions from individuals throughout Wales to the English king. There are limitations ...

Part of the current revision process of the Anglo-Norman Dictionary ( www.anglo-norman.net ) is the provision of (live) links to other relevant dictionaries for every single entry. This places all Anglo-Norman words in their wider linguistic context, mapped against their equivalents in English ( Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and Middle English Dictionary (MED)), Continental French (Godefroy’s Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (Gdf) and its Complément (GdfC), Tobler and Lommatzsch’s Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch (TL), Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (DMF) and Trésor de la langue française (TLF) and Latin ( Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources (DMLBS)). In addition, AND entries are also linked with two etymological dictionaries of (medieval) French : F ranzösisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (FEW) and Dictionnaire étymologique de l’ancien français (DEAF). These in particular add an extra level of elucidation...

The primary focus of the present AND project involves the editing of those entries beginning with the letters N, O, P and U. In addition to this, the editors have designed and implemented a series of semantic tags, as we have mentioned in some of our previous posts. These tags have been developed to assist users in determining the semantic area in which a definition is applicable. It is envisaged that by early 2017, users of the dictionary will be able to search via the semantic tags, allowing them to extract all words used in a particular area (for example, all plant names, or all words relating to brewing, etc.). The examination of the semantic tags in use in the dictionary often shows us how important certain texts are to our understanding of a particular semantic field. While AND1 contained a [decor] tag, it was poorly used, originally flagging only 22 Anglo-Norman words. This tag is meant to highlight terms and senses "related to visual embellishment or adornment of obje...