The Middle English and the Modern English Periods

6. Development of the English Vocabulary from the 12^th to the 19^th centuries.
According to the estimates made by modern philologists, in the course of the thousand years – from Old English to modern times – the English vocabulary has multiplied tenfold. Perhaps, the figure would be much higher, if it were possible to count all the meanings expressed by lexical items in different historical periods.

Among the changes in the vocabulary we can distinguish losses of words or their meanings, replacements and additions. Like many other lexical changes losses were connected with events in external history: with the changing conditions of life and the obsolescence of many medieval concepts and customs. Some regulations and institutions of Old English kingdoms were cancelled or forgotten in the Middle English period. Old English were ld was a fine paid by the murderer to the family of the murdered man. The word became obsolete together with the custom. Some rituals of the heathen religion were abandoned – after the introduction of Christianity – and their names dropped out of use: Old English