Middle English ‘Losenger’

Middle English 'Losenger': Sketch of an etymological and semantic enquiry is the title of a paper delivered by J.R.R. Tolkien at the Congrès Internationale de Philologie Moderne, held at the University of Liège from 10 to 13 September 1951.

The paper is an investigation of the Middle English word (of French origin) 'losenger'. Tolkien traces the etymology of the word in Geoffrey Chaucer's Legend of Good Women and in various Proto-Germanic languages.

In 1953, the essay was published in Essais de philologie moderne (1951), the collection of the conference proceedings, and in an offprint (Middle English 'Losenger': Sketch of an etymological and semantic enquiry).

In 2024, the essay was reprinted in full in Tolkien on Chaucer, 1913-1959.