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Introduction to Middle High German: a Reader and Grammar

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Introduction to Middle High German: a Reader and Grammar 'W!' 'mAMl^Ali AH^ lEADE ALi«K£P, ^ferif4. -'^ 'V r- I ji ^--^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from LYRASIS IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontomiOOsenn AN INTRODUCTION TO MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN GATE¥/Ay BOOKS GENERAL EDITORS ERNST FEISE The Johns Hopkins University and The Middlebury College School of German ROBERT O. ROSELER The University of Wisconsin and The Middlebury College School of German AN INTRODUCTION TO MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN A READER AND GRAMMAR By ALFRED SENN The University of Wisconsin New York W. W. NORTON & CO., INC., Publishers Copyright, 1937, by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 70 Fifth Ave., New York First Edition PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE „ Auf die , Intuition' sollte sich nur bernfen, wer sich die Miihe genommen hat, etwas zic lernen. G. Ehrismann, Geschichte der deiitschen Literatiir bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters. 2, II, i p. X. THIS publication differs in various points from the tradi- tional Middle High German textbook: i) The whole presentation centers around the texts, and a minimum amount of grammar is given for the interpretation and understanding of the texts. Full understanding of the text will prove essential for literary appreciation and for philological studies. 2) In the introductory part the material is presented in lesson form, making it possible to create study units. The lessons sometimes seem to be rather long. However, many of the given grammatical items are, at least for the beginning, only of secondary importance. If they occur again later, there are footnotes with the necessary references. Thus, it should be possible to master one lesson in one class period, since the book is especially planned to help students prepare their lessons at home. 3) The book is written in Enghsh (and not in German) for at least two good reasons. The student is no longer obliged to use for his preparation two dictionaries (a Middle High Ger- man-Modern German and a German-English one) and thus has direct access to the riches of medieval German culture. The main purpose, however, was to avoid the numerous snares inherent in translating Middle High German into modern Ger- vi PREFACE man where too easily German words of similar phonetic struc- ture are also taken for the semantic equivalents of the Middle High German expression. The text should always be first translated into English and then, after the meaning of a passage has been established, a translation into modern German may be attempted. The student must bear in mind that there are no words that might be called "meaningless". 4) The author has tried hard to establish the correct meaning of the words. The list at the end of the book covers the whole vocabulary of the "Selected Readings" with all the shades of meaning as they occur in this text. References enable the user to verify the given definitions, especially where (as in numerous cases) an entirely new interpretation is proposed. This part of the book is to be regarded as a basis for further studies in semasiology. Great care was taken in establishing a good text. In the introductory part and in the Nibelungenlied and Kudrun the prevailing attitude was not to depart from the oldest or best manuscript, while the lyric parts of the "Selected Readings" were treated in such a way as to serve as an introduction into Middle High German versification. Thus, in the first part the author was guided exclusively by a grammatical interest, sup- plemented in the second part by a literary interest. The per- fection of philology is reached when the two are harmoniously co-ordinated. Many a user would probably like to have the grammatical paradigms gathered in one separate chapter. This would in- crease the size of the book considerably. However, a fairly complete index is added as a substitute. This book should serve not only as an introduction into medieval German but also as an introduction into the history of the German language. It provides the student who is already familiar with modern German with the knowledge of an older form of that language and prepares him for the study of histori- cal and comparative grammar. The sections dealing with PREFACE vii historical grammar had of necessity to be brief, since we already have the excellent book of E. Prokosch, An Outline of German Historical Grammar (New York, Oxford University Press, 1933). The two publications should be regarded as supple- menting each other. Some of the grammatical rules were taken from various standard works of Germanic philology, with due references made occasionally. This book was written at Prof. R. O. Roeseler's instigation. The author is deeply indebted to Mrs. Maude Hausm^ann Brewster, Prof. W. F. Twaddell, and Mr. Palmer A. Hilty for their generous assistance. Also to Prof. Ernst Feise he owes a word of thanks for fruitful suggestions. Alfred Senn Madison, Wisconsin August, 1937 CONTENTS GRAMMAR PAGE LESSON I 3 LESSON II lO LESSON III 17 LESSON IV 22 LESSON V 27 LESSON VI 34 LESSON VII 44 LESSON VIII 53 LESSON IX 62 LESSON X 72 lesson xi 77 lesson xii 84 lesson xiii 91 lesson xiv 98 lesson xv 107 Additional Grammatical Material Referred to in THE Selected Readings 113 Vowel Changes of the Strong Verbs 119 SELECTED READINGS I. NiBELUNGENLIED 121 II. KuDRUN 212 III. Der von Kurenberg 244 IV. Dietmar von Eist 246 ix X CONTENTS PAGE V. Heikrich von Veldeke 249 VI. REESriLA.R DER AlTE 251 VII. Hartmann von Aue 259 VIII. WaLTHER von DER VOGELWEIDE 266 IX. Neidhart von Reuental 292 X. Anonymous Songs 295 XI. Fro7n Salomon und markolf 302 APPENDICES I. B10GR.APHICAL Notes on Middle High German Authors 307 II. Middle High German Versification 308 Vocabulary 317 Index 373 An Introduction to MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN LESSON I. 1. Medieval manuscripts show a rather irregular and often inexact way of spelling MHG words. But modern philologists, basing their conclusions on the etymology of the words and on observations of MHG rhymes, have normalized the spelling in many ways in order to make it conform to the pronunciation. Thus, in MHG there are short and long vowels. But this dif- ference is, as a rule, not indicated in the manuscripts. We, however, mark the vowels a, e, i, o, u with a circumflex sign (a, e, i, 6, u) to indicate that they are long. In contrast with the medieval practice we also distinguish between the short vowels a, 0, u and the corresponding long vowels cb, (e, iu. For other peculiarities of MHG spelling see Paul-Gierach, MiUelhoch- dentsche Grammafik (1929), pp. 8-14 and Michels, MiUelhoch- deutsches Elementarbuch (1921), pp. 41-51 and 102-116. In recent years a growing opposition against normalized texts has arisen among scholars. This criticism is justified at least as far as so-called " critical editions " are concerned. But a be- ginner's book should not fail to take advantage of so valuable a guide as normalized spelling. Every student of medieval paleography knows that, e.g., the different forms of the letters s and r are due merely to calligraphic predilections of the scribes. Much more important than a normalization of spelling is the " normalization " of the grammatical forms. 2. Vowels: Short vowels a e i o u a o il Long vowels a e t 6 u ce ce iu Diphthongs ei on on {eu, oi); ie uo He 3 4 MIDDLE HIGH GERMAN In general the vowel signs have the same phonetic value as in modern German. In particular the student should bear the following points in mind: a) When reading, observe strictly the distinction between short and long vowels. The quantity of the vowels in MHG words is not necessarily the same as in the same words in modern German. b) e is either close or open. Some scholars indicate the open pronunciation by the sign e and the close one by an unmarked e. Others use the sign e for the close quality and the unmarked e for the open sound. The close e generally originated from a Primitive Germanic (concerning this term see §13) a through i-umlaut, while the open e represents a Primitive Germanic e, which in turn came either from Indo-European e or (before a of the following syllable) i. An even more open e-sound (similar to a in Eng. maii) is written either e or a. It too came from a through i-umlaut, but at a later time. The phonetic value of MHG e differed very much in the various regions. It can be recognized in the rhymes and to a certain degree by comparison with modern dialects. c) e is usually a close vowel. (S is a long a, oe a long 0, in a long il. d) Of the diphthongs both components must be spoken, but in such a way as to put the main stress on the first sound. The vowel e in ei is close {ei) ; on is 0^1, not a-it. The pronunciation ei and ou has survived up to the present around Bern (Switzer- land), i.e., at the far south-v/est corner of the German speaking territory. The pronunciation ai and an, however, existed al- ready in MHG in the Bavarian dialect and in the Alemannic territory around the Bodensee. The diphthongs ie, uo, He still survive in the whole modern Alemannic territory (mainly Switzerland and Alsace), ie is a real diphthong {i-e). Its second component (e) is not merely a lengthening sign as in modern German.
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