A Ghost in the Thesaurus: Some Methodological Considerations Concerning Quantitative Research on Early Middle English Lexical Survival and Obsolescence

Lexical survival and loss during the transitional period between Old and Middle English are difficult to grasp. Even though this period is covered partially by both the Dictionary of Old English and the Middle English Dictionary , and entirely by the Oxford English Dictionary and the Historical Thesaurus , there are still words which have fallen through the metaphorical cracks and are not adequately or exhaustively described in these lexicographical resources. By carefully analyzing the available attestations and supplying additional evidence from the Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English , the present article discusses common methodological issues in this line of research and their consequences for quantitative studies.