• Historical Linguistics 
• Old and Middle English 
• Language contact, variation and change in Medieval England 
• Norse-derived terms in English 
• English etymology 
• Scribal behaviour 

I am working at the English Department as a teaching and research assistant to Prof. Dr. Olga Timofeeva. My interest lies in Anglo-Norse contact in Medieval England and the influence of Old Norse on English vocabulary. In addition to this area, I am also interested in English etymology, lexical change and variation. 

For my cumulative PhD project, I have been studying dialectal variation and scribal choice in the nine extant manuscripts of the 14th century Middle English poem Siege of Jerusalem, supervised by Prof. Dr. Olga Timofeeva (University of Zürich) and Dr. Sara Pons-Sanz (Cardiff University). My second article explores Norse-derived vocabulary in the 13th century Middle English romance Havelok the Dane.  

I am an active member of SELIM (Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature) and SAUTE (Swiss Association of University Teachers of English).

Most recent academic conferences:  

• “Identifying Norse in Havelok the Dane: The lexical domain of MIND.” The 7th Nordic Interdisciplinary Conference on Discourse and Interaction (NORDISCO). University of Tampere. November 15-17, 2023. 
• "Lexical replacements of Norse-derived terms in the southern manuscripts of Siege of Jerusalem." International Conference of Middle English (ICOME). University of Malaga. May 8-10, 2024. 
• "Scandinavian impact in Siege of Jerusalem: Lexical replacement of Norse-derived terms in the nine extant manuscripts." The European Society for the Study of English (ESSE). University of Lausanne. August 26-30, 2024.
• "Words derived from Old Norse in the Middle English lexis of Havelok the Dane: exploring the semantic field of SOCIETY." International Conference on Historical Lexicography and Lexicology (ICHLL). University of Lisbon. June 24-27, 2025.
• "Norse-derived terms and native synonyms in Havelok the Dane: Patterns of lexical choice and semantic distribution." Studientag Englisches Mittelalter (SEM). University of Zürich. October 23-25, 2025.

Chaired sessions: 

• The 22nd International Conference of English Historical Linguistics (ICEHL). University of Sheffield. July 3-6, 2023.

Upcoming:

• The 14th International Conference on Middle English (ICOME). University of Zürich. June 3-6, 2026.

  https://www.icome2026.uzh.ch/en.html

I teach the mandatory modules “History of the English Language 1: Focus on Old English” and “History of the English Language 2: Focus on Middle English.” 

Upcoming: "Scandinavian influence on Old and Middle English" (HS26)

I am happy to supervise BA theses in any of the areas listed under “Research Interests.” 

Asian, M. (2026). Norse-derived Terms in Siege of Jerusalem: Dialectal Variation in the Nine Extant Manuscripts. English Studies, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2025.2579925