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 | | Language and History in the Early Germanic World by D. H. Green ISBN-10: 9780521471343 ISBN-10: 0-521-47134-6 ISBN-13: 9780521471343 ISBN-13: 978-0-521-47134-3 Hardcover 1998-09-28 Cambridge University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description 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. | ||
Book Description 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 non-specialists, can provide important clues for historians and archaeologists of the period. Likewise, it demonstrates that philologists and linguists ignore historical evidence at their peril. | ||
Reviews | ||
Dense, but essential I agree with the other reviewers that this book is NOT for the general reader: it is indeed very dense, and does assume some background in Germanic linguistics and/or early medieval history. That said, with some effort, even a lay person should be able to get a wealth of information out of this book, and for people with a little bit of background, it is an invaluable guide to the early history of the Germanic languages, and a very useful work of reference. Readers should be warned, though, that Green is often less critical than he should be regarding historical 'facts' such as the migration of the Goths from Scandinavia. | ||
An admirable effort, and a helpful source for Early Germanic After struggling for some time to find some sort of connecting sources of information to build an idea of Early Germanic life. After having read this, I was able to determine ranks and the language forms that came with it in establishing a societal form for many Early German tribes. Although primarily concerned with Germanic language, it helps clear the mist from many confusing theories. Kudos! | ||
Not for the casual historian This book is for the serious philologist and/or linguist. Less of an explanation of early German life and language than a lecture-made-into-a-book on the evolution of a handful of words.The book assumes much more familiarity with ancient texts and dialects than the casual armchair historian will have. Lack of preexisting in-depth knowledge makes this book too ponderous and obtuse. | ||
Much information, but somewhat plodding The purpose of this book is to use our knowledge of the early Germanic languages to fill in gaps in our knowledge of the history and culture of the peoples who spoke them. The book provides a great deal of information, organized by divisions of culture, such as warfare and religion. I have two main criticisms. First, the author presupposes a bit more knowledge of the Germanic languages and of Latin than most readers are likely to have. This will from time to time make a point difficult to follow. Second, I found the book a bit plodding. There just didn't seem to be any interesting insights, unexpected discoveries, or unusually clever inferences. | ||