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Orrin W. Robinson

Old English and Its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Oct. 1993

by Orrin W. Robinson (Author)

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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.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Stanford University Press
Publication date

1 Oct. 1993
Dimensions

15.24 x 1.93 x 22.86 cm
ISBN-10

0804722218
ISBN-13

978-0804722216
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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

"Orin W. Robinson's Old English and its closest relatives makes an extremely valuable contribution to the group of texts that specialists in one or more of the historical Germanic dialects can safely rely upon for introducing students to comparative Germanic historical linguistics." -- American Journal of Germanic Linguistics

"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

"General textbooks introducing the Germanic languages are scarce. This work claims to provide a resource available to monolingual English speakers with a minimal background in linguistics. The task seems hardly possible, but Robinson accomplishes it and he does so with flying colors. . . . In general, Robinson's text is pedagogically sound and definitely recommended either on the undergraduate level or in an introductory class for graduate students filling in a linguistics requirement." -- Scandanavian Studies

“This well-structured, terse account of the early Germanic languages fills an obvious gap in reference books on historical linguistics. Striking an excellent balance between readability for the nonspecialist and sufficient detail for classroom usage, the volume begins with a straightforward chapter on the background of English and German in the Germanic family of languages and the Indo-European system at large. . . . Extremely useful for linguistics and medieval literature courses at all levels; belongs in all college and university libraries.”―Humanities

"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 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

"The execution of Old English and its closest relatives is workmanlike and conscientious. It is appropriate as a textbook for students who have had no prior exposure to [the Germanic] discipline and who require only a general introduction; it will certainly appeal to the curious lay reader. The book's serviceability in the classroom is assured in a sense for the simple reason that there is no other single work that covers the material summarily." -- Language

"Robinson has produced a highly useful book. Designed for an "Introduction to Germanic Languages" course, it will also be a welcome supplement for courses in the history of English, German, and the other Germanic languages. . . . [A] book that instructors would be wise to bring to the attention of students, since it will contribute clarity as well as understanding of important matters in philology and linguistics, in addition to the opportunity for ready introduction to the early Germanic languages. Instructors as well as students will be grateful to Robinson. . . ." -- Michigan Germanic Studies

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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stanford University Press; 1st edition (1 Oct. 1993)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0804722218
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0804722216
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.93 x 22.86 cm

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An introduction only, but a very good one at that

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 8 June 2014

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Covering Gothic, Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian and Old Low German, each chapter on each language covers the orthography, phonology and a certain set of grammatical features enabling comparison between the languages. Each chapter also has short sample texts in the language - where possible this includes the parable of the sower to give a comparison, although a couple of the languages don't have a version of this so another text is selected instead. A glossary is given, and although there are translations in the back, the reader is encouraged to work through the passages and translate for himself.

Each chapter also begins with a potted history of the speakers of the language, and after the grammatical section each chapter has some sections considering other aspects of the language which may touch on one of more of the other languages too; so for example the chapter on Old Saxon has a section on Germanic poetry via examples from Old Saxon and also from Old Norse, as being two forms at either end of a spectrum.

There is also an introductory chapter followed by another with a grammatical overview of Germanic languages, and at the end a chapter considering the phylogenetic grouping of the languages, indicating that the standard division of East, North and West Germanic languages is not so simple as it seems and rather more problematical.

It's all at a relatively introductory level (pitched at undergraduate introductory text perhaps, but also accessible to the non-specialist and interested amateur) but none the worse for that. It's a good précis of comparative Germanic linguistics.

3 people found this helpful

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E.Hart

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 14 October 2015

Met expectations.

A Singular Introduction to the seven Early Germanic Languages

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 February 2011

This is the finest introductory comparative linguistic analysis of the early Germanic languages. Robinson writes in a lucid style that captures your interest even if some of the technical discussions found after the texts for each language might be beyond the interest of non-linguists. Still the reader is given the same text from the Gospel of Mark, The Parable of the Seed and the Sower, in five of the seven available old Germanic languages. Robinson works through time (diachronically) first introducing the reader to Gothic, then Old Norse, Old Saxon, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Low Franconian, and finally Old High German. Robinson helps the reader along by providing verbal similarities to the old Germanic words by placing similar English and German words alongside the texts. There is a glossary at the end of each chapter as well as a translation of the texts in the appendix. There is also a brief survey and comparison of the languages as they developed, primarily, but not exclusively, based on their relation to Gothic since it is by far the earliest of the Germanic languages. And so for example:

Gothic

"Jah sum gaudras in airtha goda, jah gaf akran (acorn = fruit) urrinnando jah wahsjando (wachsend) jah bar (bore) ain (one) 30 jah ain 60 jah ain 100."

And some fell in earth good, and gave fruit going up and growing and bore one 30 and one 60 and one 100.

Old Norse

"En sumt kom (came) i gotha (good) jorth ok varth (ward) at avokti (wax) hundrath (hundred) hlutum meira (more) en hann sathi (sowed)"

But some came on good earth and became and grew one hundred times more than he sowed.

Old Saxon

"Sum uuarth it than bifallen, thar so filu stodun thiccero (thick) thorno (thorn) an themu dage (day); uuarth imu thar an erthu endi eft up gigeng ..."

Some was it then fallen, where so many stood of thick thorns in the day; it became there on [the] earth and afterwards up went ...

Old English

"And sum feoll on god (good) land, and hit sealde uppstigendne and wexende (waxing) waestm; and an brohte thritigfealdne (thirtyfold), sum syxtigfealdne (sixtyfold), sum hundfealdne (hundredfold)."

And some fell on good land, and it gave climbing up and growing fruit; and one brought thirtyfold, one sixtyfold, one [a] hundredfold.

Old High German

"Sumiu fielun in thorna (thorn); tho uuohsun (wuchsen) thie thorna inti furthamftun (daempften) iz (it). Andaru fielun in guota (good) erda inti gabun (gave) uuahsmon, andaru zehenzugfalto (ten-ty-fold), andaru sehszugfalto (sixtyfold), andaru thrizgufalto (thirtyfold)."

Some fell in thorns; then grew the thorns and choked it. Others fell on good earth and gave fruit, some [a] hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Most comparative analyses I know of are limited to comparisons of just two languages such as Gothic and Old High German or Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse, so this work is a veritable treasure for those interested in a broad, sweeping introduction to our linguistic heritage. I doubt this work will be surpassed, though it can be complemented with more detailed analyses Robinson himself recommends at the end of each chapter.

10 people found this helpful

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lionqueen11

An Excellent Introductory Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 27 September 2011

This is the perfect book for readers without previous knowledge on Germanic Languages and Linguistics.
Go for it without second thoughts

7 people found this helpful

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