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Cambridge Language Sciences

Interdisciplinary Research Centre
 

Research

I have published on a range of aspects of early English language and literature. My main research is etymological and lexicological: broadly speaking, I am interested in the history of words, their semantics and their contexts, especially in Old and Middle English texts. My special focus is on the effects of contact between speakers of Old English and Old Norse in Viking Age England, especially on the English lexicon; I am currently writing a book about the Norse loanwords in the Middle English poem 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'.

Publications

Key publications: 

Dance, R. (2003). Words Derived from Old Norse in Early Middle English: Studies in the Vocabulary of the South-West Midland Texts. Tempe, AZ, ACMRS

Dance, R. (2004). Sound, Fury and Signifiers; or Wulfstan’s Language, in Wulfstan, Archbishop of York: The Proceedings of the Second Alcuin Conference, ed. M.Townend, Studies in the Early Middle Ages 10. Turnhout, Brepols, pp. 29–61

Dance, R. (2006). ‘“Þær wearð hream ahafen”: A Note on Old English Spelling and the Sound of The Battle of Maldon, in The Power of Words: Anglo-Saxon Studies Presented to Donald G. Scragg on his Seventieth Birthday, ed. H. Magennis and J. Wilcox. Morgantown WV, West Virginia University Press, pp. 278–317

Dance, R. (2007). Glossary and assorted Notes in Ancrene Wisse: A Corrected Edition of the Text in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 402, with Variants from Other Manuscripts, ed. B. Millett, vol. 2, General Introduction, Notes on Text, Glossary and Bibliography, Early English Text Society o.s. 326. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Dance, R. (2011). ‘“Tomar3an hit is awane”: Words Derived from Old Norse in Four Lambeth Homilies, in Foreign Influences on Medieval English, ed. J. Fisiak and M. Bator, Studies in English Medieval Language and Literature 28. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, pp. 77–127

 

Publications (from Symplectic)

Book chapters

2023

  • Dance, R., 2023. The Poetic Field, I: Old and Middle English Language and Poetry
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198827429.003.0005
  • 2018

  • Dance, R., 2018. The Horns of a Dilemma: Finding the Viking Influence on Medieval English Vocabulary
  • 2017

  • Dance, R., 2017. English Contact: Norse
  • 2016

  • Dance, RW., 2016. North Sea Currents: Old English and Old Norse in Comparison and in Contact
  • 2012 (No publication date)

  • Dance, RW., 2012 (No publication date). English in Contact: Norse
  • Dance, RW., 2012 (No publication date). 'Tor for to telle': Words Derived from Old Norse in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
  • 2011

  • Dance, RW., 2011. “Tomar3an hit is awane”: Words Derived from Old Norse in Four Lambeth Homilies.
  • 2010

  • Dance, RW., 2010. The Old English Language and the Alliterative Tradition. In A Companion to Medieval Poetry
  • 2008

  • Dance, RW., 2008. Glossary and assorted Notes to edition of Ancrene Wisse
  • 2006

  • Dance, RW., 2006. “Þær wearð hream ahafen”: A Note on Old English Spelling and the Sound of The Battle of Maldon’ in The power of words
  • 2004

  • Dance, R., 2004. Sound, Fury, and Signifiers; or Wulfstan's Language
  • 2003

  • Dance, R., 2003. The AB Language: The Recluse, the Gossip and the Language Historian
  • Journal articles

    2022

  • Dance, R., 2022. The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW, v. 137
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceac065
  • 2018

  • Dance, R., 2018. Words Derived from Old Norse in <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight</i>: An Etymological Survey: Volume 2 Transactions of the Philological Society, v. 116
  • 2015

  • Dance, R., 2015. H. M. Chadwick and Old English Philology Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, v. 69-70
  • Dance, RW., 2015. Getting A Word In: Contact, Etymology and English Vocabulary in the Twelfth Century Journal of the British Academy, v. 2
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197265864.003.0007
  • 2011 (Accepted for publication)

  • Dance, RW., 2011 (Accepted for publication). Ealde æ, niwæ la3e: Two Words for “Law” in the Twelfth Century New Medieval Literatures, v. 13
  • 2004

  • Dance, R., 2004. North Sea Currents: Old English-Old Norse Relations, Literary and Linguistic Literature Compass, v. 1
    Doi: 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2004.00117.x
  • 2001

  • Dance, R., 2001. Two difficult words in "AB" (Early-13th-century South-West Midland scribal dialect) NEOPHILOLOGUS, v. 85
    Doi: http://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011849417720
  • 2000

  • Dance, R., 2000. Is the verb <i>Die</i> derived from Old Norse?: A review of evidence ENGLISH STUDIES, v. 81
    Doi: 10.1076/0013-838X(200007)81:4;1-F;FT368
  • 1999

  • Dance, R., 1999. <i>The Battle of Maldon</i> Line 91 and the Origins of <i>Call</i> Neuphilologische Mitteilungen: Bulletin de la Société Néophilologique/Bulletin of the Modern Language Society, v. 100
  • Dance, R., 1999. The 'Battle of Maldon', line 91, and the origins of <i>call</i> (Old English etymology) NEUPHILOLOGISCHE MITTEILUNGEN, v. 100
  • Books

    2019

  • Dance, RW., 2019. Words Derived from Old Norse in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: An Etymological Survey
  • 2012

  • 2012. The Use and Development of Middle English
  • 2003

  • Dance, R., 2003. Words Derived from Old Norse in Early Middle English: Studies in the Vocabulary of the South-West Midland Texts
  • Professor of Early English
    Departments and institutes: 
    Dr Richard  Dance

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