Ships and Sailors in Geiffrei Gaimars Estoire des Engleis

Gaimar employs a historically accurate Norse-derived nautical vocabulary when writing of Danish ships raiding the English coast. The article explores whether his Anglo-Norman lexicon for sailors has a similar origin in the Gallo-Romance of Norsesettled Normandy. Etymologies for the terms bucekarle and haspal are identified and a functional distinction between these two kinds of seamen-for-hire is proposed. Evidence of related loans into Old English is reviewed in the context of the evolution of pre-conquest levies of sailors and financial resources for coastal defence.