Germania Semitica

Description

Germania Semitica explores prehistoric language contact in general, and attempts to identify the languages involved in shaping Germanic in particular. The book deals with a topic outside the scope of other disciplines concerned with prehistory, such as archaeology and genetics, drawing its conclusions from the linguistic evidence alone, relying on language typology and areal probability. The data for reconstruction comes from Germanic syntax, phonology, etymology, religious loan names, and the writing system, more precisely from word order, syntactic constructions, word formation, irregularities in phonological form, lexical peculiarities, and the structure and rules of the Germanic runic alphabet. It is demonstrated that common descent is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for reconstruction. Instead, lexical and structural parallels between Germanic and Semitic languages are explored and interpreted in the framework of modern language contact theory. Preface Introduction: Methodology of research in prehistoric language contact 1. Zur Entstehung des Germanischen 2. English as a “Celtic” language: Atlantic influences from above and from below 3. Amsel und Merula 4. Germania Semitica: +abr- ‘strong’, with a reflection on Abraham/Theodoric 5. Atlantis Semitica: Structural contact features in Celtic and English 6. Germania Semitica: +aþal- (OE æðel-, G Adel) ‘nobility’ With an appendix on Gk. Aτλɑs 7. Germania Semitica: Pre-Gmc. +-at- in E maiden, G Magd/ Mädchen, Goth, magaps 8. Key issues in English etymology 9. Germania Semitica: Gmc. +drag-, +trek- (Lat. trah-, Gk. τρέχ-) 10. On the rise of ‘Celtic’ syntax in Middle English 11. Semitic → Celtic → English: The transitivity of language contact 12. Zur Etymologie von Rauch und riechen 13. PGmc. +drepa-, G treffen ‘to hit’fg 14. Germania Semitica: +sibjö 15. Languages in prehistoric Europe north of the Alps 16. Syntax und Sprachkontakt: Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der indogermanischen Sprachen des Nordwestens 17. Note on the etymology of PGmc. +smitan and +smiþaz (E smite, smith, G schmeißen, Schmied, etc.) 18. Sprachgeburt durch Sprachkontakt: Die Entstehung des Englischen 19. Phol, Balder, and the birth of Germanic 20. Glauben wir noch an die Lautgesetze? Zur Etymologie von Phol und Balder im Zweiten Merseburger Zauberspruch 21. The name of the Isle of Thanet 22. Was Proto-Germanic a creole language? 23. Münze, mint, and money. An etymology for Latin Moneta With appendices on Carthaginian Tanit and the Indo-European month word 24. Ne’er-a-face : A note on the etymology of penny, with an appendix on the etymology of pane 25. A note on the etymology of Germanic +skellingaz ‘shilling’: With an appendix on Latin siliqua ‘a small coin’ 26. Grimm’s Law and loan-words 27. Germanische Runen und phönizisches Alphabet 28. Zur Reihung der Runen im älteren Fu{)ark 29. Semitic influence in Celtic? Yes and No 30. The source of the Ing rune and of the futhark Abbreviations References Index of Atlantic / Hamito-Semitic etymologies Index of Hamito-Semitic words, word forms, and roots Index of Vasconic etymologies Index of Toponyms Subject Index