Course introduction I: Who refashioned these myths Flashcards
What is NOT true about the emergence of “Germanic people? (very roughly 500 BCE)
- Not a political entity (like a state) but an collection of tribes
- Definitely not an ethnic community or race
So what is the “Germanic people? (very roughly 500 BCE)
A loose linguistic and cultural community. They shared a language now called Porto-Germanic, from which all (modern and extinct) Germanic languages descend. They also shared mythological beliefs.
What is Porto-Germanic?
A language from which all (modern and extinct) Germanic languages descend
Into what branches did the Porto-Germanic language split due to migration?
Porto-Germanic
->
1. West Germanic (English + German)
2. North Germanic (Scandinavian)
3. East Germanic (Gothic)
Northern Germanic is known as?
Old Norse.
The people(s) who speak that language are known as the Norse.
Important to remember Germanic is NOT …?
German
What is the dividing line between Northern Germanic and Southern Germanic?
The Danish-German border.
Southern Germanic refers to everything south of that border, most importantly, the tribes living in what is now Germany.
The God Odin goes by many names. What is he called among Northern Germanic (Norse) tribes in Scandinavia who spoke Old Norse?
Óôinn (mispronounced as Odin), which related to Old Norse óôr meaning rage, madness, anger.
The God Odin goes by many names. What is he called among Southern Germanic tribes on the European mainland?
Wotan, which is related to modern German WUT meaning anger.
Both the Northern Germanic Óôinn and the Southern Germanic Wotan derive from?
Proto-Germanic *Wōôabaz meaning fury, rage, manic inspiration.
Our most important source for Old Norse mythology is?
Snorri Sturluson (Iceland, 1179 - 1241)
Author-compiler of the Prose Edda
