Middelnedertyske låneord i islandsk diplomsprog frem til år 1500. By Veturlidi Óskarsson. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana, 43. Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzel, 2003. Pp. 432. DKK 440.

This study of Middle Low German (MLG) loan words in Icelandic diplomata extends to the year 1500. Although the focus is on Icelandic charters, related documents, such as inventories of churches or monasteries and episcopal statutes, are included. The investigation encompasses nearly 4,500 texts from the period 1200 to 1500, of which some 1,200 are inventories. The study is limited to words that in all likelihood derive from MLG, although it also takes into consideration MLG's predecessor, Old Saxon, since by definition, albeit not necessarily in reality, one distinguishes between two stages of the language, before and after ca. 1200 (pp. 15–16). For the most part, Icelandic loan words from MLG are not direct but, rather, transmitted via Norwegian and, somewhat later, Danish.

Marianne E. Kalinke
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign