ABSTRACT
A History of the German Language Through Texts examines the evolution of German, from the Early Medieval period to the present day.
Written in a lively and accessible style, the book looks at the history of German through a wide range of texts, from medical, legal and scientific writing to literature, everyday newspapers and adverts. All texts are translated and accompanied by commentaries. The book also offers a glossary of technical terms and abbreviations, a summary of the main changes in each historical period, a guide to reference material, and suggestions for further reading.
A History of the German Language Through Texts is essential reading for students of German, Linguistics or Philology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |9 pages
Introduction
chapter |15 pages
Pre-textual German: From Indo-European to West Germanic
part |4 pages
Old High German (c.750–c.1050)
chapter |13 pages
The Lord’s Prayer: Major dialects of the OHG
chapter |12 pages
Heroic Lay: Das Hildebrandslied
chapter |6 pages
Legal code: Lex Salica
chapter |7 pages
Political treaty: The Strasburg Oaths
chapter |10 pages
Gospel harmony: Otfrid von Weissenburg’s Evangelienbuch
chapter |9 pages
Political praise poem: The Ludwigslied
chapter |6 pages
Phrasebook: The Paris Conversations
part |2 pages
Middle High German (c.1050–c.1350)
chapter |10 pages
Williram of Ebersberg: Commentary to the Song of Songs
chapter |10 pages
Courtly romance: Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein
chapter |7 pages
French influence: Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan
chapter |9 pages
Legal Documents: Oath for Jews and Vienna Fief Transfer
chapter |9 pages
Legal code: Der Sachsenspiegel
chapter |8 pages
Medicine: Breslauer Arzneibuch
part |3 pages
Early New High German (c.1350–c.1700)
chapter |11 pages
Humanism and linguistic levelling: Niklas von Wyle’s Translatzen
chapter |10 pages
Low German and the language of business: The Hanseatic League
chapter |10 pages
Language use for special purposes: Cookery recipes 1350–1600
chapter |10 pages
Language use in the early mass media: Reformation pamphlets
chapter |13 pages
Bible translation: Martin Luther
chapter |6 pages
Purism in the seventeenth century: Johann Rist
chapter |9 pages
Dialect: Andreas Gryphius’s Die Geliebte Dornrose
part |2 pages
New High German (c.1700–c.1945)
chapter |8 pages
‘Natural style’: Letters and Moral Weeklies
chapter |9 pages
J.W. Goethe: Literature, natural sciences and administration
chapter |11 pages
Political pamphlets: Berlin 1848
chapter |11 pages
Scientific prose in the nineteenth century: Rudolf Virchow
part |2 pages
Contemporary German (c.1945–c.2000)