An Introduction to the Gothic Language

by William H. Bennett

Overview

This handbook was written specifically for beginning students. It presents twenty-seven graded readings, each accompanied by a vocabulary and an explanation of grammatical details; the final chapter provides a sample of the Codex Argenteus. Among the readings, the first seven are in effect preliminary exercises. The remaining twenty readings represent the Gothic Bible and the Skeireins. The external history of the language is also outlined, as well as the elements of phonetics, and the essentials of phonologic and analogic change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780873522953
Publisher:	Modern Language Association
Publication date:	01/01/1980
Series:	Introductions to Older Languages , #2
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.42(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

William Bennett was a professor in the department of Germanic languages and literatures at the University of Michigan and the author of 17 articles and four book chapters on Germanic linguistics.

Editorial Reviews

"An introductory textbook of Gothic by a scholar of Professor Bennett's eminence is of course to be welcomed without qualification, the more so because it in no way duplicates its competitors in the field. The clarity of presentation is exemplary." —Modern Language Review

From the Publisher

A textbook introducing the language used as the gateway from the Germanic languages back to Indo-European, and also as a common ancestor to many later Germanic languages. Because most of the surviving manuscripts are literal translations of the Greek original and so provide no information about syntax, Bennett breaks with the principle of the series to produce some non-original material for the 27 graded readings. Each is accompanied by a vocabulary and an explanation of grammatical details. He includes a full glossary, but decided against a separate grammar for reasons of space. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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