Language and History in the Early Germanic World

by D.H. Green

This book offers a distinctive and accessible approach to the earliest encounters of the barbarian societies of Northern Europe with classical antiquity and with early Christianity. It brings together linguistic evidence from across Europe and dating from before Caesar to about 900 AD, to shed light on important aspects of Germanic culture. It shows how historical phonology and semantics, often avoided by nonspecialists, can provide important clues for historians and archaeologists of the period. Likewise, it demonstrates that philologists and linguists ignore historical evidence at their peril.

Genres: Linguistics, History, Nonfiction

464 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 1998

About the author

Dennis Howard Green

Reviews

[Volsung]

Fundamentally, this extremely interesting and informative work sets out to describe the old Germanic world -- its culture and history -- via an in-depth scrutiny of the Germanic languages. Single words standing for concepts, and these words' etymologies, reaveal great swaths of (sometimes otherwise unattainable) information. In no better way is the relation between material, philosophical and historical culture (i.e. the thing signified) and language (the thing which signifies) expressed than in this book. As an example, take the set of words which make up the old Germanic "literary culture":

*stav-oz, *stav-iz 'letter': Gothic (dative plural) "stabim"; Old Norse "staf-r"; Old English "stæf"; source of both Modern English "staff" and "stave," originally signifying a straight line.

*rûn-oz: Old Norse "rún"; Old English "rūn"; Modern English "rune." Letter of the common Germanic alphabet, but also meant "council" and "mystery" (with magical usages and connotations).

*wrîtan 'to cut': Old Norse "ríta" to score, write; Old High German "rîzan" to tear, draw (Modern German "reissen"); Old English "wrītan"; Modern English "write."

*bôk-oz ‘writing-tablet, leaf, or sheet’: Old Norse "bók"; Old High German "buoh"; Modern German "Buch"; Old Enblish "bōc"; Modern English "book." The word is cognate also with "beech (tree)."

All of these perhaps give some indication of the kind of "written culture" of the old Germanic peoples: letters are straight, angular lines which are cut (the ancient meaning of "write") onto, perhaps often, wooden surfaces or writing surfaces made from bark. Noting also that *rûn-oz "rune" means both a written letter but also "council," we might cite the fact that Modern English "read" seems to have originally meant "to council": in all of the Germanic languages except English, this is the meaning of the verb, and its usage continues even within English itself, in the (albeit archaic) "reed, rede."

[Mary Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a first rate book in both interest and information. Green made the right combination of intense knowledge and wonderfully interesting detail.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is definitely for the language specialist. Yet interspersed with detailed linguistic changes are insightful explanations on why certain words in the various German dialects, under the influence of native, Greek, and Latin words, were chosen and came to represent new or modified political, economic, cultural, and religious ideas. A good book for the specialist; with concentration, an interesting book for the dedicated amateur with an interest in history.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot of good information in this book for an etymologist. However, the book is nigh impossible to get through. I couldn't finish it though it's valuable as a reference.