Borrowings as a tool to construct a literary message: The case of Saint Erkenwald

English lexicographers and historical linguists have always taken special heed of the Middle English lexicon, because of its multiple origins and multi- faceted composition. Many different languages have given their contribution to shaping English vocabulary, especially Romance borrowings, for their long and never- ending influence and for their extensiveness. Up to now, most studies have analysed borrowings in terms of either etymology or register and dialect. Much less has been done in terms of literariness. The present paper aims to look at borrowings from a stylistic, rhetorical, but also semantic perspective, that is, as a means for constructing the literary message. The case in point is the alliterative poem of Saint Erkenwald, written in the North- West Midlands and belonging to the Alliterative Revival, a variety influenced by Old Norse and a genre that was in contrapposition to the court’s high- style. The poem is nevertheless rich in Romance lexical borrowings, whose analysis shows that they also convey special meanings, that is, help contextualize the poem within the ecclesiological and theological debate to which the poem gave its own contribution.