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The English Language Before England: An Epigraphic Account
This pioneering work explores epigraphic evidence for the development of English before the Anglo-Saxon period, bringing together linguistic, historical and archaeological perspectives on early inscriptions, making them more accessible to a wider audience.
The volume offers a new account of the Germanic development of Anglo-Saxon England, beginning with an examination of the earliest inscriptions from northern Europe and the oldest inscriptions preserving Germanic names, many of which have only been discovered since the 1980s. The book charts the origins of key terms such as Angle, Saxon and Jute and early writing systems used by Germanic peoples. Drawing on epigraphic evidence from northwestern Germany through to southwestern Denmark and sub-Roman Britain, Mees situates the analysis within historical and linguistic frameworks but also provides archaeological contextualisations, assessed chronologically, for the inscriptions. Taken together, the work re-examines existing models of the early development of English through the lens of contemporary approaches, opening paths for new directions in research on historical dialectology.
This book is key reading for students and scholars interested in the history of English and historical linguistics.
The volume offers a new account of the Germanic development of Anglo-Saxon England, beginning with an examination of the earliest inscriptions from northern Europe and the oldest inscriptions preserving Germanic names, many of which have only been discovered since the 1980s. The book charts the origins of key terms such as Angle, Saxon and Jute and early writing systems used by Germanic peoples. Drawing on epigraphic evidence from northwestern Germany through to southwestern Denmark and sub-Roman Britain, Mees situates the analysis within historical and linguistic frameworks but also provides archaeological contextualisations, assessed chronologically, for the inscriptions. Taken together, the work re-examines existing models of the early development of English through the lens of contemporary approaches, opening paths for new directions in research on historical dialectology.
This book is key reading for students and scholars interested in the history of English and historical linguistics.
- GenresLinguistics
275 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 16, 2022
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May 29, 2023
When the history of English presented, generally the earliest stage back is Old English/Anglo-Saxon as known from manuscripts produced in England. Naturally, English is a Germanic language, but in historical-linguistics presentations there is rather a gap between Old English and reconstructed Proto-Germanic. In this book, Bernard Mees tries to trace the history of distinctly English further back than insular Old English, by examining inscriptions on the continent that are arguably from the direct ancestor of Old English prior to the Anglo-Saxon invasions.
This book was much less fun than I was expecting, though perhaps the fault is not the author’s but the very nature of the field: virtually all of these runic inscriptions are the subject of scholarly dispute with regard to interpretation and dating. Ultimately, Mees’s book is simply a listing of the various contending interpretations in the scholarly literature, with rewarding insights into the history of English few and far between.
This book was much less fun than I was expecting, though perhaps the fault is not the author’s but the very nature of the field: virtually all of these runic inscriptions are the subject of scholarly dispute with regard to interpretation and dating. Ultimately, Mees’s book is simply a listing of the various contending interpretations in the scholarly literature, with rewarding insights into the history of English few and far between.
Displaying 1 of 1 review