So far no comprehensive study of the obsolescence of Scandinavian loanwords in English has
ever been published. This book remedies that situation and presents an analysis of the causes
of obsolescence of Scandinavian loanwords in English since the 15th century. The study has
mainly been based on the Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary. Over 300
loanwords have been selected grouped into semantic fields and analysed. To account for their
disappearance reasons such as the rivalry of synonyms the exclusive use in local dialects
the disappearance of the referent as well as rare occurrence or phonological changes were
investigated.
