Reassessing the semantic history of OE brēad / ME brēd

Our etymological understanding of PDE bread has been influenced, to a considerable extent, by Otto Jespersen’s comment that ‘An Englishman cannot thrive or be ill or die without Scandinavian words; they are to the language what bread and eggs are to the daily fare’. This paper analyses the evidence behind the possibility that PDE bread might represent a Norse-derived semantic loan, i.e. that OE brēad acquired the meaning ‘bread’, which was more frequently expressed by OE hlāf, because of the influence of its Viking Age Norse cognate (cp. OIc brauð ‘bread’). On the basis of an in-depth study of the attestations of OE brēad and hlāf and their early Middle English reflexes, as well as the use of their cognates in various Germanic languages, the paper challenges the traditional view that OE brēad originally meant ‘piece, morsel of bread’ and concludes that Norse influence is not needed in order to account for the semantic history of PDE brea

The languages of Scotland

This chapter, co-written with Dr Pons-Sanz, will provide the necessary historical and linguistic background to the discussion of the literature in the rest of the volume. It will have two functions: firstly, to provide a brief linguistic history of Scotland until 1700, with particular emphasis on sociological aspects of language choice and deployment, and the resultant impact on literary survivals; secondly, to outline linguistic features which contribute to literary style, such as the use of rhyme and alliteration, issues of register, and concomitant discussions of syntax, semantic fields, and generic usage. The first section will discuss, briefly, the influences and legacies of other languages in Scotland, including Latin, Middle and Early Modern English, Old Norse and Anglo-Norman, while concentrating on Older Scots and Gaelic; the second will focus mostly on Older Scots and Gaelic

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research