Abstract for HEL-LEX 3 (New Approaches in English Historical Lexis 3), 7-10 March 2012, Tvärminne, Finland.
Samuli Kaislaniemi
University of Helsinki
This paper charts the semantic field of Early Modern English intelligence-gathering. In particular, the aim is to see if the various terms used to describe the agents in and products of the intelligence-gathering process have restricted definitions. What differentiates an intelligencer from an informant? Is there a difference between advices and advertisements? This study is exploratory, and consists of a historical investigation and a linguistic survey. The historical investigation will delve into contemporary (c. 1550-1650) writings in order to find out how writers and theorists understood the various aspects of espionage and diplomacy, and what words they used to describe them. The linguistic survey will start with establishing the primary lexis of the semantic field(s) involved with the help of the Historical Thesaurus of the OED, and then move on to survey dictionary evidence for contemporary definitions of the key words in LEME and EEBO. Finally, I will compare my results found thus with evidence from primary sources, namely three digital editions of diplomatic and intelligence correspondence: Letters of William Herle [1559-1588], The Diplomatic Correspondence of Thomas Bodley, 1585-1597, and The Early Letters of Richard Cocks, 1600-1610.