Synonymity and semantic variability in medieval French and Middle English.(Essay)
From: The Modern Language Review
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Date: 4/1/2007
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Author: Rothwell, W.
Texts in medieval French and English often string together two or even three (quasi-)synonyms carrying a wide range of senses, a feature commonly regarded by modern scholars as stylistic rather than semantic. However, while for the modern reader the dictionary has become the accepted arbiter of form and meaning, the printing-press which made possible the dictionary came only in the late Middle Ages. In the absence of any such prescriptive authority, the synonyms in a medieval text ...
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