Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Prelim pages i
2. Table of contents v
3. Foreword vii
4. Introduction 1
5. Part 1. Conspicuous lexical choice in past societies
6. Chapter 1. Old English ead in Anglo-Saxon given names 15
7. Chapter 2. News and relations 41
8. Chapter 3. “… all spirits, and are melted into air, into thin air” 61
9. Part 2. Historical layers in text and genre
10. Chapter 4. Conservatism and innovation in Anglo-Saxon scribal practice 79
11. Chapter 5. Old English wills 103
12. Chapter 6. Spatio-temporal systems in Chaucer 125
13. Chapter 7. “A riddle to myself I am” 151
14. Part 3. Lexis, morphology, and a changing society
15. Chapter 8. Common to the North of England and to New England 183
16. Chapter 9. Betwixt, amongst , and amidst 201
17. Chapter 10. English word clipping in a diachronic perspective 227
18. Index 253