고대영어와 중세영어의 意味轉變(Transference)연구

A Study of Transference between OE and ME

Transference which is the most conspicious feature of the semantic change in the time of Chaucer was investigated within the Chaucer's works with the least attempt to show a general direction of transference in lexical changes, and prove partly what types of change existed by 15 century. The method and arrangement adopted is primarily genetic and logical, but the cause, condition and nature of the change were also explained from the psychological point of view. The subclassification under Transference may not be considered as one of logical arrangement because of the wide limits and variations of relations between referents involved. As a whole, it must be kept in mind that the new meanings or the derived meanings in Chaucer are not always at the expense of the earlier meanings in OE. In most cases, the new meanings were used along with the original senses of OE. And with many instances in this study we can assume that the evidence that the new senses used in Chaucer appeared already from 1200 or 1300. Thus it will not be easy to determine which of the meanings are more predominant in Chaucer unless the full materials from various sources or writers in the period of ME are collected enough to show the shift of meanings.