A Study of Northern English Vocabulary in Medieval Latin Texts: The Case of the Durham Account Rolls

Abstract

This article draws on previous work on word geography in Northern Middle English and Early Modern English, which has made use of English monolingual sources, and, for the first time, applies it to the vocabulary present in multilingual texts whose matrix language is Medieval Latin, in this case, the Durham Account Rolls (DAR). Taking a database of c. 380 lexical items culled from the DAR as its basis, it proposes a taxonomy for the study of northern vernacular vocabulary on the grounds of different kinds of evidence: orthographic (words exhibiting northern orthography), textual (words recorded in northern manuscripts), semantic (words for northern concepts) and diachronic development (words established as northern in later forms of English). It highlights the role of dictionaries such as the OED, MED and DOST in constructing our understanding of what is meant by ‘northern’ and emphasises how often it might be essential to revise the lexicographical labels of these dictionaries. More importantly, it underscores the potential of multilingual texts in enlarging the body of historical sources, traditionally in monolingual English, used for lexicographical and lexicological research.