Norse-derived vocabulary in La estorie del evangelie

While the study of Norse-derived terms in medieval English has benefitted from recent etymological advances (e.g. the Gersum project), the exploration of their process of integration lags behind. The latter requires the analysis of the dialectal and semantic distribution of the terms, as well as their interactions with other members of their lexico-semantic fields. This paper offers a case study of this approach by presenting the first comprehensive account of the Norse-derived terms included in La estorie del evangelie, an early Middle English poem from south Lincolnshire/north Norfolk. Besides identifying and classifying the Norse loans on the basis of the Gersum typology and the Historical thesaurus of English, the paper examines the different layers of scribal reworking in its seven fourteenth- and fifteenth-century manuscripts from various dialectal areas to separate the Norse-derived terms that can be attributed to the original composition from those that represent later lexical substitutions, thus tracing the terms’ fate into the late Middle English period. This work shows that this understudied text offers valuable information on the interaction between native, Norse and French terms both in the early Middle English period of the original Fenland author and the later period of the surviving copies. Given that the methodology showcased here should not be restricted only to the analysis of Norse-derived terms, the paper’s significance transcends its immediate focus, as it also contributes to our understanding of medieval English lexicology more broadly.

Chivalry and Knighthood in the Past and Present; Contrasting “Gawain” and Fire Emblem Three Houses

In my paper, I delve into the socio-political dimensions of knighthood and chivalry during the medieval era of Europe through a comparison between the Medieval English poem, “Gawain and the Green Knight,” and the video game, Fire Emblem Three Houses, published in 2019 by Nintendo. Within both texts, I explore chivalry and knighthood as a specific social code and institution of power, both of which are complex constructs beneath its veneer of idealism and romanticism. More prominently however, I discuss the interplay between chivalry as a system of power and one’s humanity. I argue that Three Houses compellingly demonstrates this dynamic through its characters and their interactions together, and shines a light on the reality of individuals beholden to institutional power. Although contemporary narratives may tend to misconstrue the past for dramatic effect, I believe there is value in examining them because they may conversely reveal previously overlooked aspects of historical concepts due to the biases and values of the period.

Metaphor in Students’ English Poems: A Psycholinguistic Analysis

This research is aimed at finding how the students of English Department of State University of Gorontalo perceive the thing as revealed in the metaphor they used in their English Poem and, as well, interpreting the metaphor. This research was designed in qualitative research methodology. The subject of research was the poems written by the students in 2010. It is found that the students used metaphor to express their feeling. The metaphor reflects the students’ perception of the reality categorized in semantic fields. In terms of the intended meaning of the metaphor, the researcher inferred the meaning by finding the metaphor predications based on the researcher knowledge of the predication.

The Manifestations of Fate in Medieval Germanic Poetry and Lithuanian Folk Songs

Reflections of mythical worldview are embedded in traditional oral poetry, viz. Old Icelandic collection of poems Poetic Edda, Old English poem Beowulf, and Lithuanian folk songs. Archaic motifs and archetypal imagery are conveyed by means of poetic grammar (alliteration, kennings, epithets, etc.). Through interpretation, the hidden (symbolic) meaning of the poetic grammar is unveiled, and the connection between the two worlds, the sacred (the divine) and the profane (the human) (Eliade 1959), is exposed. To advance the analysis of poetic narrative, the methodology employed in the paper combines comparative Indo-European poetics (Watkins 1995) and oral-formulaic theory (Kiparsky 1976; Foley 1996). The paper focuses on the poetic narrative’s motifs that encode the archetypal image of the goddess(es) of fate in the Germanic and Baltic traditions. Selected passages from Old Icelandic, Old English, and Lithuanian poetic texts reveal the motif of fate in the following contexts: the establishment of the laws governing human life, the courtship and wedding narrative, the inescapable decrees of misery and death, the warrior’s fame and fate, and the connection between the goddess of fate and the cuckoo bird (in the Lithuanian tradition). The poetic grammar and poetic formulas, in particular, reveal the prototypical characteristics of the supernatural beings who rule fate – Norns, Wyrd, and Laima – and present them as an integral part of the Indo-European mythological system.

THE POEM "BEOWULF": NEW HORIZONTS OF STUDYING

[Karlova V. О. Cognitive-matrix Modelling of Borrowed Vocabulary in the Old English Poem "Beowulf" (Specialty 035 Philology. Kyiv, 2020. 303 p.)]

TWO ORIENTALISMS: THE ROLE OF ORIENTAL DICTION IN G. G. BYRON’S THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS AND I. I. KOZLOV’S RUSSIAN TRANSLATION

«Oriental diction» is an important exotic element of Byron’s poem The Bride of Abydos. Using Oriental words that jarred with English poetry of early 19th century, and accompanying them with extensive notes, Byron gave his poem an experimental and scholarly character. While translating the English poem into Russian, I. I. Kozlov chose a creative approach to the problem of reproducing the Oriental diction (the exotic and bizarre words, style and poetics were somewhat downplayed), the reasons being the originality of the Russian culture of the early 19th century and Kozlov’s own literary taste.

Acousmatics: Sounded/Silent Text in Caroline Bergvall’s Drift

Rather than accepting a particular language as a bounded entity, the UK-based French-Norwegian poet Caroline Bergvall positions her multimedia work Drift within the oceanic fluidities of linguistic and etymological change. Despite the passage over centuries and languages of her main source text, the anonymous Old English poem The Seafarer, the movement of contemporary migrants at sea is brutally constrained. This conflict is an acoustic paradox: if language is already resonant with the echoes of so many transitory pasts, how it can be used to sustain rigid identities and borders? These questions of orientation and direction are posed in relation to acousmatic listening, where the source of a sound is not revealed, as well as through the affordances of collaborative sound and visual performance. Listening becomes a critical process of locating oneself in social, ecological and political contexts.

The situation of conflicting loyalties and the Old English Genesis’ version of the story of the Fall

The paper addresses the idiosyncratic version of the story of the Fall presented in the Old English poem Genesis from the perspective of religious and political moral of Early Medieval Society. The methodology of the research bases on the analysis of the social functions of texts. To understand the didactic message of the poem the poet’s conception of “fall” should be looked attentively. “The Fall” of angels and men is presented in the text as the failure of choice, due to overconfidence or the appellation to the wrong authority. As could be seen from historical sources the problem of choice in the situation of conflicting loyalties was essential for Anglo-Saxon society. Person’s behavior in this situation was judged according to the results of his or her actions, not according to his or her initial reasons.