Fifty years of studies on the Middle French in the Nordic countries (1965-2015)

The article is a survey of the research done on Middle French (MF) in the Nordic countries during the period 1965-2015, a time of fruitful scholarship in that area. It starts with an examination of the use of the term Middle French in Nordic research, seldom used until the 1980s. The three subchapters concern a) text editions, b) literary research and c) linguistic studies. The twenty-one text editions published during those fifty years represent hagiographies and miracles, technical cynegetic and military treatises and inter- and intralingual translations. Literary research is scarce; not a single monograph entirely devoted to MF literature was published. The Danish journal "Revue Romane" is the publication responsible for the biggest amount of literary research, including reviews of recent publications. The linguistic subchapter presents monographs and other studies, representing diachronic and synchronic research. The first Nordic monograph on MF is Ulla Jokinen's Les relatives en moyen francais (1978), which can be considered as the pioneer of MF linguistic research in Northern Europe. The central name in diachronic research is Lene Schosler, whose studies often deal with the entire history of the French language since its Latin origins. Among the various topics in synchronic research, one can especially mention the studies concerning translations and translation techniques. The contribution of Nordic scholars to MF research has been quite considerable, but this may no longer be the case in the future, since academic teaching and thus also research is more and more limited to contemporary French.