Classification of ancient Germanic tribes

Special Philology, its Subject and tasks

Special philology (Greek phileo, logos) is one of the subjects which establishes the back-ground of a specialist in philology. It used to be understood as a science studying all types of not only texts but also material remnants. Philology as a science appeared in antiquity in order to explain old texts, later its tasks and notions have been changed.

Now it is defined as a common name of subjects studying languages, literatures, and culture with the help of texts of literature, history etc.

Our branch of special philology is Germanic philology because the English language is a representative of the Germanic group of the Indo-European family of languages.

The SUBJECT MATTER of Germanic philology:

l it studies the languages of the Germanic group:

l their origin, development and structure,

l mutual connections, common laws,

l tendencies of development

l interconnections with the languages of other groups.

Its main tasks are to explain modern state of Germanic languages and to reconstruct their ancient forms. Modern state can’t be explained without studying ancient situation.

Special philology is connected with other sciences:

l general linguistics,

l comparative linguistics,

l dialects, linguistic geography;

l history, archaeology, ethnography,

l history of art, religion etc.

It is divided into German philology, English, Scandinavian etc. It gives the basis to study the history of the language, theoretical grammar, lexicology etc.

Вопрос 2

Comparative and Historical method

Linguistics uses various methods to study languages: descriptive, statistic, experimental etc. One of them is Comparative and historical method.

This is a scientific way of reconstruction of those language phenomena of the past, which were not fixed in written texts.

The reconstruction can be effected by means of comparing later facts of two or more languages which are known either from written texts or real speech. Sometimes only it works in studying language phenomena.

Steps of the process of comparing language phenomena

l 1) to compare sounds and morphemes;

l 2) to establish common laws;

l 3) to establish chronological correspondences among them,

l 4) to reconstruct a primary form.

The method is not ideal, it has some drawbacks

l it can’t give the exact dates of this or that language change;

l it doesn’t explain several phenomena;

l it’s not suitable for all types of languages.

The usage of this method allowed to define the place of Germanic languages among other languages of the world, to trace historic changes in their phonetics, grammar and vocabulary, to explain important phenomena of their modern state.

This method is based on the following principles

l Genetic commonness of the compared units.

l Comparison of the meaningful units (not simply sounds);

l Regularity of correspondences;

l Phonetic laws;

l Semantic laws.

Various scientists who developed this method are William Jones (1746 – 1794) who began studying Sanskrit; Franz Bopp (1791 – 1867) - the founder of the method itself, who compared Indo-European languages; Rasmus Rask Christian(1787-1832) who used this method to study Germanic languages; A.Vostokov , an investigator of Slavonic languages (1781-1864); Jakob Grimm, the author of the first comparative grammar of Germanic languages (1785-1868); Karl Verner, an investigator of Germanic phonetics(1846-1896); F. de Saussure, Antoine Meillet and many others.

Вопрос 3

Ancient Germans

Germanic tribes are great ethnic complex of ancient Europe, a basic stock in the composition of the modern peoples of Sweden, Norway, Den-mark, Iceland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, No-rthern Italy, the Nether-lands, Belgium, Luxem-bourg, Northern and Central France, Lowland Scotland and England.

Thus in the 1st century A.D. Germanic languages were only spoken in Germany and in territories adjacent to it and also in Scandinavia. It is considered that they lived in the territory between the rivers Elbe and Odra, on the peninsula Jutland and in the Southern Sweden.

At that time old Germanic tribes were passing through the stage of development which is marked by the term “barbarism”. From archaeology it is clear that the Germans had little ethnic solidarity; by the 7th cent. B.C. they had begun a division into many peoples. They did not call themselves Germans; the origin of the name is uncertain.

Their rise to significance (4th cent. B.C.) in the history of Europe began roughly with the general break-up of Celtic culture in central Europe. From these areas they spread out in great migrations southward, south-eastward, and westward.

Geography made it attractive to the Romans as a potential province to add to the already powerful Roman Empire.

The combination of natural resources, agriculture, and strategic value made the Romans eager to gain acquisition of this territory. The main resources that Germany had to offer came in the form of metals, more specifically, iron. Their iron was of such quality and was acquired in such abundance that it was exported to Rome for use in most everything that was created from iron.

The German agricultural system was vital to the economy in Germany. Most of the Germans were farmers but a large portion of the population was herders.

The Germans were agriculturists from the beginning of their existence. They established agricultural villages based on land plots that were grouped around a central water supply. The main crops that they raised were cereal grains such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye.

Around the North Sea area there was an emphasis on cattle raising. Germany also had a great strategic advantage that was appealing to the Romans. First of all it could be used to protect Gaul north of the Danube which had already come under Rome influence. Germany also provided for a buffer from Gaul. The tribes that eventually settled in the Germanic area were tribes that had for the most part been migrating throughout Europe for many years.

The first testimonies

Our knowledge of the ancient Germans is based on the testimonies by Greek and Roman writers, who for certain reasons were interested in them.

The earliest of them was the Greek traveller and astronomer Pytheas from Massilia (now Marseiilles) who lived in the 4th century B.C. He sailed from his native town through the Gibraltar along the west coast of France to the Baltic. His book has not come down to us, only some pieces of it were preserved by the Greek geographer Strabo (63 B.C. – 20 A.D.).

Pytheas was the first who mentioned the Teutons.

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) wrote about the Teutons in his great work Natural History. He gave a classification of Germanic tribes.

Вопрос 4

Classification of ancient Germanic tribes.

The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) wrote about the Teutons in his great work Natural History. He gave a classification of Germanic tribes.

1. The Vindili (including the Goths and the Burgundians) were the tribes who lived in the eastern part.

2. The Ingaevones – the north-western part (the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes)

3. The Iscaevones (Istaevoneas) -the western part on the Rhine (the Franks)

4. The Hermiones - the southern part of Europe.

5. The Peucini and Bastarnae who lived near Rumania

6. The Hilleviones in Scandinavia – northen part of the territory.

The tribes of the fifth group can be joined with the first group/

This classification still coincides with the modern point of view on the classification of ancient Germanic languages and is correlated with modern Germanic languages. The physical features of each tribe were very similar to each other. Tacitus described the Germans as blond-haired, blue-eyed people with large frames. Other accounts tell of reddish-blond-haired figures that were well built and long skulled. Their facial features are preserved on Roman monuments.

Although the earliest mention of the Germans is by a Greek navigator who saw them in Norway and Jutland in the 4^th cent. B.C., their real appearance in history began with their contact (1^st cent. B.C.) with the Romans. The Roman general, statesman and writer Julius Caesar (100 – 44 B.C.) in his Commentaries on the War in Gaul gives several chapters to the Germans, whom he combated and dealt with on the Rhine. Apart from describing their barbarity and warlikeness, Caesar Commentaries tell little. It also follows from Caesar’s account that the Teutons were nomads in his time.

Вопрос 5

In the 1st century A.D. Germanic languages were only spoken in Germany and in territories adjacent to it and also in Scandinavia. It is considered that they lived in the territory between the rivers Elbe and Odra, on the peninsula Jutland and in the Southern Sweden. At that time old Germanic tribes were passing through the stage of development which is marked by the term “barbarism”. From archaeology it is clear that the Germans had little ethnic solidarity; by the 7th cent. B.C. they had begun a division into many peoples. They did not call themselves Germans; the origin of the name is uncertain. Their rise to significance (4th cent. B.C.) in the history of Europe began roughly with the general break-up of Celtic culture in central Europe. From these areas they spread out in great migrations southward, south-eastward, and westward. Geography made it attractive to the Romans as a potential province to add to the already powerful Roman Empire.

Вопрос 6

Anglo-Saxon Invasion

The earliest mention of the British Isles is in the 4^th cent. B.C. by Pytheas. At that time Britain was inhabited by Celtic tribes. In the 5^th cent. A.D. Britain was conquered by three Germanic tribes the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes. These tribes were included into the group of the Ingaevones according to the classification of Pliny the Elder. The Britons fought against the conquerors for about a century and a half. (According to legends, they were lead by a mysterious king Arthur). The Angles occupied most of the territory north of Thames, the Saxons – south to the Thames, the Jutes in Kent and in the Isle of Wight.

Вопрос 7

Runic writing

Runic Alphabet.

The word “rune” is translated as “secret” (compare old Celtic “run”, middle Welsh “rown”, modern German “raunen”).

The most important sources about runic history are ancient texts of Scandinavian pagan religion – Old Edda by Brynolf Swesson and Lesser Edda by Snorri Sturlusson.

German runic writing was the letter system of peculiar look, accounted by the writing technique on bone, wood and metal.

Tombstones, altars, pagan pillars called “runic stones” are found with miscellaneous writings (Gothland, Upland, Norway). The most famous is Cilwer stone, which dates from the 5-th c. So we can find a lot of writings on jewels and weapon, for barbarians believed things had to possess their own names (breakteats).

The main runic alphabet consists of 24 signs, may be more, but other ones are regarded as variants or combined runes.

The whole system is divided into 2 parts – futarks (arises from the first symbols – F, U, Th, A, R, K: Old futark (runes of Old German origin – o.f.) and Late futark (modifications of o.f. in Northumbrian, Frisian and Anglo-Saxon alphabets).

Old Futark

24 signs traditionally gradate into 3 groups of 8 symbols called atts (“part of land “ or “kin” compare Scot. "airt”, Ireland “aird).

Nowadays we have the main runic alphabet, consisting of 24 signs, may be more, but other ones are regarded as variants or combined runes.

The first six runes of the alphabet spell out the word "FUTHARK".

The origin of futark remains the matter of severe debates between historians, linguists and philologists.

There are two main theories: 1) Runic writing appeared on the basis of Latin alphabet; 2) cradles of these signs are in Transalpine and North Italian scripts. Scientists have a lot of historical facts, approving that Etruscan merchants used this system. Probably they brought it to the North (6-th c. B.C.).

However some researchers think that runes cropped up in Germanic tribes from ancient Rome Latin writing. But the construction of runic alphabet (RA) is different from others – for example, order of the first letters.

Many runic symbols were used as icons, showing various things and animals. Some runologists suppose that even in the most developed variant they are close to pictures: rune “Fehu” f symbolizes cattle, Thurisaz – thorn, Wunjo w – weathercock, Algiz z – elk, Zin s– lightning, Yr u – bow, Edhwaz m – horse.

The top of development and complete formation of RA system was in the 1-2 c. AD.

28 sings appeared in the middle of the 6-th c. In Britain where German runes penetrated in the 5-th c. with Anglo-Saxon invasion, Frisian futark was improved by some additions and changes (mostly combined runes) and numbered 29 units.

In Northumberland 33 rune system existed already, with the mixture of Celtic runes.

In the middle of the 7-th c. the tendency to simplification appeared – some runes changed in inscription, some were lost. To the middle of the 10-th c. the number of runes decreased to 16 units and late futark formed.

It was purely writing system, which wasn’t used for fortune telling. It got wide spreading not only in the territory of German Empire, but in the North too, for example in Denmark and Sweden.

The next step in development of RA took place in the middle of the 12-th c. by adding dots to 16 sign system (dotted alphabet). It was used along with Latin one till the 16-th c. We can find its variants in Slavonic manuscripts.

Вопрос 8

The Gothic alphabet was probably created by bishop Ulfilas who also translated the Bible into the "razda" (language).

Some scholars claim that it was derived from the Greek alphabet only, while others maintain that there are some Gothic letters of runic or Latin origin. There are very few references to the Gothic language in secondary sources after about 800 AD, so perhaps it was rarely used by that date.

The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. Before its creation, Gothic was written in Gothic runes.

Latin Alphabet

Latin was introduced into Germanic languages later in order to organise church service. First glosses appeared to render the names into Latin. The Latin alphabet of that time had only 23 letters (without J,W,V).

Historically there were the following types of Latin writing: scriptura capitalis, scriptura uncialis, and minusculis.

Вопрос 9

The most important sources about runic history are ancient texts of Scandinavian pagan religion – Old Edda by Brynolf Swesson and Lesser Edda by Snorri Sturlusson.German runic writing was the letter system of peculiar look, accounted by the writing technique on bone, wood and metal. Tombstones, altars, pagan pillars called “runic stones” are found with miscellaneous writings (Gothland, Upland, Norway). The most famous is Cilwer stone, which dates from the 5-th c. So we can find a lot of writings on jewels and weapon, for barbarians believed things had to possess their own names (breakteats).

Вопрос 10

Stress

Stress is the emphasis (shown by more forceful, louder, and higher-pitched voice) given to some syllables (usually no more than one in each word). In many languages, long words have a secondary stress a few syllables away from the primary stress. Some languages have fixed stress, i.e. stress is placed always on a given syllable, as in French (where words are always stressed in the last syllable) or Quechua (always on the penultima – the syllable before the last one). Other languages have stress placed on different syllables in a predictable way (they are said to have a regular stress rule), such as Latin.

There are also languages like English or Spanish, where stress is unpredictable and arbitrary, being lexical – it comes as part of the word and must be learned with it. In this kind of a language two words can differ only by the position of the stress, and therefore it’s possible to use stress as a derivative or inflectional device.

It is considered that in Indo-European the stress used to be musical and fixed. But in Germanic it became fixed on the root syllable and turned into the dynamic one.

The system of phonemes included consonants and vowels.

Ancient Germanic system of conso-nants was different from that of Indo-European in the number of stops and fricatives. Germanic languages had more fricatives than stops, Indo-European – v.v. Germanic consonants included labials p,b,f; dentals t,d,th; back sounds k,g,h; kw,gw,xw. These changes are explained by shifts.

Вопрос 11

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