Grammatical analysis has been limited to part of speech for Nordic headwords. No grammatical information for terms is presented in the English>Nordic section except to distinguish homonyms.
Approximately one quarter of the headwords have also been furnished with explanatory articles. They are intended to provide concise supplementary information about the legal concept the term represents, and readers are encouraged to consult the bibliographic references for more detailed analysis. Articles were composed by the LMNL editors with assistance and commentary of external experts. Article content varies in scope depending on the amount of identified scholarship on the term. Certain articles offer brief explanations of the contexts in which a term is found (e.g. ON halsbók), while others (e.g. OSw sökia) give a preliminary semantic analysis. Still others (e.g. OSw laghmaþer) provide historical or comparative background relating to the term as it is used across regions and time periods.
English equivalents are taken more or less directly from published or draft translations without exclusion. In some cases English synonyms have been employed by individual translators to render the same medieval word or phrase, and the parts of speech of the English will not always correspond to those of the Nordic originals. Likewise an English equivalent may be applied to multiple Nordic terms. The editors have elected to leave the majority of these as an accumulation of equivalents in alphabetical order to illustrate the (at times extensive) semantic range of the legal terms (cf. OSw fæ and OSw sak), and therefore the editors have made minimal attempts to evaluate the choices of the translators. In a few rare cases (e.g. OSw agnabaker) the draft translations currently have no English equivalent, and the medieval term is here given within {}.
Phrases throughout the LMNL have been excerpted at the discretion of the editors with no bound set of criteria beyond legal relevance. Most phrases presented here are set phrases with a technical legal definition or idioms with a meaning specific to legal contexts. Phrases are not a primary focus of LMNL, and those given represent only a selection of possible legal expressions present in the medieval laws. English equivalents and textual references for phrases are presented in the same manner as for individual headwords.
Textual references are given for each English equivalent, most of which have been taken verbatim from published or draft translations. Textual references listed beside the equivalents for each headword are intended to be illustrative rather than comprehensive. These textual references have been divided by language grouping; OSw for laws written in Old Swedish, ODan for Old Danish, OFar for Old Faroese, OGu for Old Gutnish, OIce for Old Icelandic and ONorw for Old Norwegian. These are further divided by text and section or chapter number (see abbreviations below). Terms which appear frequently within one or more laws and have a common English equivalent (e.g. OSw bonde ‘householder’) often give only the abbreviation for the work in which the term appears.
In many entries cross-references are given to assist readers in locating synonyms or related terms.
A list of references to published works discussing the headword. In most cases author or editor name and year are given and are keyed to the bibliography.
