The Myth of Origin and the Making of Chaucer's English
- Author / Editor
- Cannon, Christopher.
The Myth of Origin and the Making of Chaucer's English
- Published
- Speculum 71 (1996): 646-75.
- Description
- Linguistic claims that Chaucer's English is the origin of English literary language are self-fulfilling, based on the "myth," in the sense of Levi-Strauss, that Chaucer originated English poetic tradition. The OED credits Chaucer with the first citation of 1,180 words (many of them introductions from French and Latin) because the compilers worked under the influence of the myth, as the compilers of the MED continue to do.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Language and Word Studies.