3. Language

Alcamesi turns to the more difficult entries among the 342 in "Merittstyle" (much of this collection is deeply indebted to the method and work of Herbert Dean Meritt with "hard words") and groups them by "semantic class": seafaring terms (515-20), plant names (521-25),...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Old English newsletter 2021-01, Vol.47 (1/2), p.17-49
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Celtic languages
Cornish language
Goidelic languages
Inscriptions
Latin language
Names
Old English
Phonology
Semantics
Welsh language
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Summary:Alcamesi turns to the more difficult entries among the 342 in "Merittstyle" (much of this collection is deeply indebted to the method and work of Herbert Dean Meritt with "hard words") and groups them by "semantic class": seafaring terms (515-20), plant names (521-25), biblical terms (525-26), members of society (526-27), names of birds (527-29), rural tools and common objects (529-38), and grammar (539). In consideration of the entry mantega : taeg (which also appears in the same form in the Second Corpus Glossary and as mantega : tig in the First Cleopatra Glossary, 535), Alcamesi first suggests mantega = mantica 'small bag for the hand, wallet', then that the O E interpretation taeg "could be related to Old Irish tiag (535) as a term for Ъоок-satcheľ, with reference to Richard Sharpe's study "Latin and Irish Words for 'Book-Satchel,"' Peritia 4 (1985): 152-56. Middle Cornish myghternas would be the feminine form 'queen, and nef is the word for 'heaven well attested in all the Celtic languages (Old Weslh nef Mod. Breeze concludes his brief note with an interesting observation on the decline in semantic range or value to the Celtic terms myghtern (Cornish) and mechderyn (Welsh) from 'king' to 'lord'.
ISSN:0030-1973