GERMANIC PHILOLOGY

Achievement of a general knowledge about Germanic languages and the history and traditions of Germanic peoples from the late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages; learning of the philological method for the interpretation and analysis of Germanic medieval texts.

From Indoeuropean to Germanic: consonant and vowel phonetic change;

the reconstructed Germanic protolanguage: methods of historical-comparative linguistics;

Proto-Germanic and Common Germanic;

the Germanic languages;

essentials of Germanic morphology: strong and weak verbs; the preterite-present verbs;

the futhark and the runic writing system;

interpretation of runic inscription in the Elder Futhark;

culture and institutions of the Germanic peoples;

contacts with the non-Germanic world;

names of the days of the week;

Germanic and Nordic mythology;

the Conversion and the beginning of the written tradition;

reading of text passages from Beowulf, Vǫluspá and the Gylfaginning by Snorri Sturluson.

Manuali

• R. W. V. ELLIOTT , Runes. An Introduction, Cambridge1980.

• M. V. Molinari , La filologia germanica, Bologna 1987.

• Study materials about phonology, linguistic reconstruction and culture topics will be downloadable from Studium platform.

   

  Testi

• Beowulf. Testo originale a fronte, a cura di Ludovica Koch, Torino 2005.

  Il canzoniere eddico, a cura di P. Scardigli, Milano 2004 (Introduzione: pp. VII-XXXVII; Profezia della veggente: pp. 1-15).

• Snorri Sturluson, Edda, a cura di G. Dolfini, settima edizione Milano 2003 (Introduzione: 11-44; Gylfaginning: pp. 46-124).

A booklet with texts and critical studies will be provided.