Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages [Paperback]

Orrin Robinson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0804722218 | ISBN-13: 978-0804722216 | Publication Date: October 1, 1993 | Edition: 1

At first glance, there may seem little reason to think of English and German as variant forms of a single language. There are enormous differences between the two in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and a monolingual speaker of one cannot understand the other at all. Yet modern English and German have many points in common, and if we go back to the earliest texts available in the two languages, the similarities are even more notable.

How do we account for these similarities? The generally accepted explanation is that English and German are divergent continuations of a common ancestor, a Germanic language now lost. This book surveys the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the earliest kown Germanic languages, members of what has traditionally been known as the English family tree: Gothic, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian, and Old High German.

For each language, the author provides a brief history of the people who spoke it, an overview of the important texts in the language, sample passages with full glossary and word-by-word translations, a section on orthography and grammar, and discussion of linguistic or philological topics relevant to all the early Germanic languaes but best exemplified by the particular language under consideration. These topics inclued the pronunciation of older languages; the runic inscriptions; Germanic alliterative pietry; historical syntax, borrowing, analogy, and drift; textual transmission; and dialect variation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The task of writing a book like Robinson's is very difficult. His contains much to be admired and is a worthy handbook ... Good students can learn much from the wealth of information in the present work, and it is to be recommended to them."—Journal of English and Germanic Philology

“This generally engaging work is well-thought out and well-organized. . . . Robinson has written [a book] that deserves attention.”—Colloquia Germanica

“[Old English and its closest relatives] is well designed and well written. It is thorough, yet not too encumbered by linguistic facts and linguistic jargon. . . . [Robinson’s] goal, to introduce the reader to the earliest Germanic languages and their interdialectal relations, has been masterfully accomplished.”—The German Quarterly

“There is much to be valued in this book, the strength of which lies in bringing together representative texts and concise but generally informative discussions of historical background, grammar, versification, and the like, and unified by chapters on the Germanic language family and its grammatical system.”—Germanic Notes and Reviews

“This book certainly fills a gap. Without it, one would have to assemble a set of handbooks of the old dialects. These would have the disadvantage of various degrees of outdatedness and divergent arrangement of materials. Robinson brings the grammatical material into alignment in a manageable number of features, selected for their significance as means of comparison. . . . The readings give some impression of the variety of language and genre, while the tribal histories add a touch of life to a possibly dry topic. . . . The focus of the work is linguistic, and in this respect there is much to admire in the selection and parallel organization of the material.”—Seminar

From the Inside Flap

At first glance, there may seem little reason to think of English and German as variant forms of a single language. There are enormous differences between the two in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar, and a monolingual speaker of one cannot understand the other at all. Yet modern English and German have many points in common, and if we go back to the earliest texts available in the two languages, the similarities are even more notable.
How do we account for these similarities? The generally accepted explanation is that English and German are divergent continuations of a common ancestor, a Germanic language now lost. This book surveys the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of the earliest kown Germanic languages, members of what has traditionally been known as the English family tree: Gothic, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian, and Old High German.
For each language, the author provides a brief history of the people who spoke it, an overview of the important texts in the language, sample passages with full glossary and word-by-word translations, a section on orthography and grammar, and discussion of linguistic or philological topics relevant to all the early Germanic languaes but best exemplified by the particular language under consideration. These topics inclued the pronunciation of older languages; the runic inscriptions; Germanic alliterative pietry; historical syntax, borrowing, analogy, and drift; textual transmission; and dialect variation.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804722218
• ISBN-13: 978-0804722216
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

123 of 127 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and eye-opening, September 8, 2001

By 

absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages (Paperback)

This fantastic little tome makes me completely reevaluate my ideas about how languages should be taught. Employing only the most minimal amount of linguistics terminology, Robinson walks the reader through seven texts in related Germanic languages. At the period they were written, these were not even distinct languages, but merely dialects of what experts in diachronic linguistics call "Proto-Germanic." The reader begins to see the connections between languages almost immediately. This is what I mean by saying that this is how languages should be taught. Bringing in a substantial etymological component to language teaching somehow provides context for each word, which somehow makes it more interesting and gripping.

For example -- here is a phrase in Old Frisian, which is a Germanic language that only grad students have ever heard of. The phrase is this, ""Thu skalt erja thinne feder and thine moder, thet tu theste langor libbe." Look familiar? If your life has ever brought you into contact with the Ten Commandments, it might remind you of the phrase "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, that you might longer live." That's good if you make that connection, because that's what it means. That isn't even in English! Isn't that cool?!?! The whole book is full of things like that.

In terms of layout, Robinson begins with two introductory chapters in which he walks us through some of the more salient ideas in historical linguistics. The second chapter is very important to understand the bulk of the book. Please dwell on it, and try to read it through at least twice before moving on. Seriously, do this, it will only help. Then there are seven chapters on seven "dialects" of Proto-Germanic, followed up by an interesting little chapter on some controversial issues over which scholars wrangle. Each chapter has several recommendations for further reading at the end of the chapter. I myself have only tried out the recommendation for two of the chapters, Old Frisian an Old Norse, but Robinson's recommendations were terrific for me.

One thing I need to mention -- there is a chart of correspondences in sounds and grammar, on pages 250-251. Somehow, this chart was left out of the table of contents. It is very helpful -- you might want to dog-ear page 250, so you can always find it easily for quick reference, as you're going through each chapter.

Anyway, this book is great for the undergrad linguist, or for any armchair time traveller. Two thumbs up!

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent, well-written book on the theme, May 11, 2000

By 

Lars Fremmelev - See all my reviews

This review is from: Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages (Paperback)

- It was amazing. In almost no time I found myself reading a text in Gothic, a language I never thought I'd ever master.

The book summarizes the main common characteristics of the ancient Germanic languages, then moves on to describe 7 different languages individually. For each language the author describes significant features of its history, phonetics, and grammar. Moreover, for each language, a few short texts are presented to the reader. They are accompanied by a glossary with examples of words from modern English and German to ease the understanding of the words in the text. After the text a thorough vocabulary follows, where all the words are translated into English. Finally, at the end of the book there is complete translation of each text.

The book is clearly based on strict linguistic principles and methods, it's well-structured, and the author is able to keep the balance and avoid too many details - after all, the aim is to give a comparative survey of the language family. But most important, the author isn't just a scholar - he also knows how to teach.

I won't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone interested in comparative linguistics and the history of the Indo-European languages. However, knowledge of modern German is clearly an advantage when reading the text samples.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book to cherish, January 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages (Paperback)

If you are seeking a nice, concise yet not superficial discussion on Gothic, Old Norse, Old English, Old Saxon, Old High German, Old Low Franconian and Old Frisian then you will find this book very interesting. It explains the main differences between these early Germanic languages, and per language it contains and discusses texts that have come down to us. And it reads like a novel.

I particularly appreciate the discussion of Old Low Franconian (= Old Dutch, Old Netherlandic), the predecessor of modern Dutch that is the mother tongue of more than 20 million speakers in the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium).

Although there are very few extant texts in OLF this language has undergone few sound changes (compared to e.g. OE or OHG) and therefore is very well suited for the comparative linguistic discipline.