The study examines the interplay of sound and meaning through three examples of Sangspruchdichtung: Rumelant's riddle-stanza on Marner (Rum I,2), Marner's praise of Hermann I of Henneberg (Marn IV,7), and the Mei ss ner's laudatory verse on Bishop Hermann of Kammin. It demonstrates how rhetorical figures and phonetic patterns not only have an aesthetic effect but also carry semantic significance. In Rumelant's riddle, the emphasis lies on the play with inversion, which also highlights standards of poetic artistry, whereas in Marner's verse the praise of the prince is staged as an auditory event. In the Mei ss ner's laudatory verse, the focus is on the play with homonymy (her/man), through which the ruler is comprehensively honored and his exemplary character foregrounded. Sound aesthetics and meaning appear closely intertwined: sound enhances sense, opens creative possibilities, and contributes both to the representation of the ruler and to poetic self-reflection.
A comparative analysis of troubadour poetry and Minnesang in relation to aspects of sound and its interplay with the semantics of the songs shows that acoustic aesthetic aspects are decisive for poets in both languages, but that different sounds and acoustic phenomena produce euphony depending on the language. The article combines fundamental considerations on the intermedial contours of medieval love poetry with questions of tradition and sound theory in the Middle Ages itself and in the 19th century, when scholarly engagement with medieval poetry began. Self-statements from the era and a comparison of two songs by Wilhem de Cabestanh and Walther von der Vogelweide exemplify the research potential offered by sound studies.
The paper emphasizes the need to combining chronology and diatopic variation to establish a valid periodization of Northwest Germanic. Drawing on different types of evidence-reconstruction, loanwords in Fenno-Ugric and not least runic data (such as the older runic inscriptions, plus Anglo-Frisian and South Germanic runic evidence)-I argue that the NWGmc. continuum predates the earliest runic traditions which start in the 1(st) or 2(nd) century AD. This dating is in stark contrast to the standard view in Germanic philology as expressed by Marold and Zimmermann (1995) and Fulk (2018, p. 16).
The article attempts to extract an > intrinsic significance < from the ostentatious sonority in Oswald's poetry by using Kl 42 as an example to show that the song can be interpreted as a multisensory offering to the recipient, producing an elaborate structure from language, sound, and visual impression; this works towards a pluralization of meaning. Conversely, the song's specific style reveals a creative power and processuality that in turn refer back to its semantic content.
This article investigates the development of declension classes in parts of West Central German with historical and regional data. The focus lies on the plural marking of nouns belonging to the neuter a-declension and the feminine & omacr;-declension. The analysis explores the formation of distinct plural markers from the 11th to the 19th century. The diachronic and diatopic distribution patterns are elucidated and related to semantic factors such as animacy. The study confirms that number strengthening (Numerusprofilierung) is a central motive for diachronic change in noun inflection and highlights the influence of phonological processes on the organization of declension classes.
There is but little research on the diatopic variation within historic standard German. This article presents a variational analysis of frequent lexical items, J & auml;nner/Januar (> January <), Samstag/Sonnabend (> Saturday <), and heuer/dieses Jahr (> this year <), in both orthographic codices 1870-1990 and standards of usage in newspapers 1870-1950. This is complemented with further genre-sensitive evidence from the historical DTA/DWDS corpora as well as a discussion of methodological challenges, such as a balanced corpus design and the scarcity of sources 1950-1990. The findings underscore the early significance of diatopic variation in the standard lexicon and call for more nuanced diachronic analyses.
Hans Sachs' > Schlauraffen Landt < (1530) proved very influential for the literary tradition of Cockaigne texts in the early modern period. While this is well documented, an analysis of Sachs' literary adaptation practices of the Cockaigne myth in several of his works is missing. The article first investigates these strategies regarding the Spruchgedicht to point out how Sachs pictures Cockaigne and its social life, combining the myth with recent discourses in culture and literature. Regarding the other texts, it examines the multi-faceted ways in which Sachs is elaborating Schlaraffenland motifs. The article, therefore, not only shows that Hans Sachs is working on Cockaigne over a period of nearly three decades, but also that he uses its motifs in diverse ways to elaborate on contemporary social discourses, having a profound impact on later Cockaigne texts.
The intertextual comparison of Laudine and Sigune in Wolframs > Parzival < reveals the conflict between the medieval Christian ideal of chaste widowhood and the constraints of feudal power relations. While Sigune is conceived as a character who, in her perfect execution, aestheticizes the Christian ideal in the literary text, Laudine's remarriage shows how the demands of this ideal cannot be reconciled with the reality of women in positions of authority. At the same time, their behavior reflects the requirement placed on widows to preserve the memory of the deceased, which arose with the establishment of the Christian ideal. The consequences of the two female characters' behavior for their deceased husbands show how closely the question of the legitimacy of a widow remarrying is linked to the associated act of remembering or forgetting the deceased. This contrast is also reflected in the narratological function of mourning widows in literary texts, whose portrayal always also represents the mourned.
This paper questions whether the secular genre generally known as ›Volks- und Gesellschaftslied‹ and which is currently called ›Liederbuchlied‹ or ›populäres Lied‹ has ever been given its proper designation. After a brief historical sketch, the paper critically examines the appropriateness of the current terminology. It reminds us of two things, first, that a genre name should catch the central characteristics of the object to be signified and that, second, social circumstances more than anything else leave a strong and lasting effect on the objects under present focus. This justifies the plea for the designation ›Gesellschaftslied‹, stressing its adaptability to different social groups and its widespread use in constantly shifting musical and literary practices.
This article deals with a widespread phenomenon of ancient and medieval written culture: acrostics. On the basis of three case studies on Albert’s Ulrichslegende, Ebernand von Erfurt’s ›Heinrich und Kunigunde‹, and ›Erlösung‹, the contribution aims to show that acrostics are not just forms of playing around with letters and words. The three cases presented have in common that the acrostics are indicated by a key. The analyses provide exemplary evidence that a broad functional spectrum can be linked back to the phenomenon, shedding light in a more general perspective on the paths of vernacular German language in the book culture of the Middle Ages.
Old Icelandic had an enigmatic preverbal particle of in prose until the second quarter of the 13th century. In 1929, Kuhn argued that this was a modal particle of potentiality, different from a preverbal of particle in Old Norse poetry of unclear meaning. Kuhn demonstrated that most of the Icelandic of particles appear in three types of clauses related to potentiality. This article adds a fourth type, which allows 90 % of the particles to be included in such clauses. The article equates ›potentiality‹ to be the modality of the modal verb mega ›be able to, can‹. This facilitates a discussion on why the of particle appears primarily in these four types of clauses. Furthermore, main verbs in the indicative past tense are shown to be missing from clauses having the Icelandic of particle.
Medieval manuscripts and early printed books were among the most important mediums for the transmission of knowledge in the premodern era. Taking into consideration the development of digitally structured systems of ordering knowledge that are irreversibly changing the patterns established hundreds of years ago, the articles of this issue focus on the haptically tangible order of knowledge in analogue space as embodied in individual books and book collections. Through the study of the long-term dynamics that this structure underwent, paired with their accompanying social, educational and technical changes, the papers give insights into the fundamental differences between analogue and digital orders of knowledge. Diverse examples from the field of premodern library studies (encompassing bibliography and historical catalogues) demonstrate the chances and limits of transferring analogue order into digital structures.
