SEMANTIC CONTAMINATION: Change of meaning that occurs when two words sound alike. Because the words are so similar, often the meaning of one becomes attached to the other. This is especially likely with foreign loan words. For e - ample, the Old English word dream originally meant \"joy.\" However, the Scandinavian loan word draumr meant \"vision while asleep.\" Through semantic contamination via the Viking invasions, the English word dream gained its current meaning, as Algeo points out (277).