Intro to the Gothic Lang Book

Based on three widely used previous editions, An Introduction to the Gothic Language offers well-planned guidance to the Gothic language and a thorough treatment of important topics associated with its study. Gothic is the most generally archaic representative of the Germanic group to appear in extensive specimens. For this reason the study of Gothic is the foundation of Germanic linguistics and constitutes an important factor in comparative Indo-European linguistics. The volume has been designed to instruct students not only in the Gothic language but also in Germanic comparative grammar. This introductory text outlines the place of Gothic in Indo-European and Ger­manic languages, the elements of phonetics, the essentials of phonologic and analogic change, and the phonologic history of Gothic. It presents twenty-seven graded readings from the Gothic Bible and the Skeireins, each accompanied by a vocabulary and an explanation of grammatical details; the first seven readings serve as preliminary exercises. A sample of the Codex Argenteus, a glossary, and a select bibliography complete the text.