Teaching code

4S006119

Teacher

Maria Adele Cipolla

Coordinator

Maria Adele Cipolla

Credits

6

Language

English

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-FIL-LET/15 - GERMANIC PHILOLOGY

Period

I semestre (Area Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 22, 2025 al Dec 24, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course includes topics on textual criticism, codicology, palaeography, historical linguistics and cultural history (also by means of a Digital Humanities approach to texts and contents) and it aims at studying the main multidisciplinary aspects characterizing Germanic Philology. Expected Outcomes At the end of the course the student will prove: - to be able to employ at an advanced stage knowledge and methodologies (also digital methodologies), and cultural contents which are necessary for the analysis and interpretation of Germanic linguistic and literary traditions; - to have examined in depth the main multidisciplinary aspects of the discipline and to have strengthened the mastery of a correct and accurate specialized terminology; - To be able to apply autonomously the acquired knowledge and contents (in the field of codicology, palaeography, historical linguistics, textual-criticism and digital philology), to the analysis and interpretation of texts with the purpose of creating scholarly editions, archives and databases. This will promote knowledge of methodologies and applications in the field of philology, textual criticism and linguistics (in compliance with the learning outcomes of the Master Degree in Languages, Literatures and Digital Culture).

Prerequisites and basic notions

Knowledge, even basic, of a modern Germanic language (English, German, or a Scandinavian language) is preferred.

Program

The course will analyze the relevant elements of the comparison between the Germanic languages (from Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages), through the manuscript traditions of some emerging literary variants. After 12 hours of exercises (with a recap of the genesis of ancient Germanic cultures and their distinctive features), the course will illustrate the history and hypotheses of Germanic linguistics from a comparative perspective, focusing on a contrastive analysis of the characteristics of historical languages (the language of runic inscriptions; Biblical Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, German, and Old Norse). After covering the emergence of writing in ancient and medieval Germanic communities (and interdependent historical-cultural phenomena, such as relations with Greco-Roman scripturalism and conversion to Christianity), it will focus on the sciences of the written document (epigraphy, paleography, codicology) and their treatment in the science of critical edition (textual criticism). The final section will focus on the genre of rune poems and runic manuscripts, analyzing the Old English Rune Poem, the Norse Rune Poem, and the Icelandic Rune Poem. It will illustrate how a marginalized cultural tradition (oral poetry, runes) was incorporated into medieval Latin culture, within a context of grammatical (i.e., "linguistic") concerns. The importance of poetry for the Old Icelandic literary flourishing of the period c. 1150–1350 will be assessed, addressing the apparent paradox that an extremely conservative form of literature, so-called "skaldic" poetry, was at the center of the most innovative intellectual experiments. Students will be trained to read documents through digital facsimiles of manuscripts and to interpret them through linguistic and stylistic analysis and the methodologies of textual criticism. Bibliography - The Cambridge companion to textual scholarship, Cambridge, UP., 2013 Students should read the introduction and chapters by D. Greetham, G. Lernout, P. Eggert, MG Sargent, J. MacGann. - Lindow, John (2002). Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. - Males, M., The Poetic Genesis of Old Icelandic Literature, de Gruyter 2020 (Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 113) - McTurk, Rory (ed.) (2005). A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell. - B. Murdoch-M. Reed, Early Germanic Literature and Culture, Boydell & Brewer, 2004 - E. Pettit (ed.), The Poetic Edda, Open Book Publishers 2023

Bibliography

Didactic methods

According to the university's guidelines, the course will be held in person. Any changes will be announced before the start of the course via a notice on the instructor's personal page and on the Moodle platform, which everyone is required to register for. Course materials for attending students consist of the reading list listed in Leganto, the lectures, and other materials that will be made available on Moodle. The program for non-attending students must be agreed upon in advance. Non-attending students are asked to contact the instructor via email (using an institutional email address @studenti.univr.it) to arrange an appointment. The reading list listed in Leganto will be further specified at the beginning of the course.

Learning assessment procedures

The exam will be oral, according to the official exam schedule published by the University. Attending students will take an in-class exam during class hours, the date of which will be announced in advance. Non-attending students will take an oral exam.

Evaluation criteria

The exam will assess the skills acquired during the course and the ability to address the syllabus topics and establish connections between them. Accurate presentation and appropriate use of specialized Germanic philology terminology will also be assessed.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final result is expressed in thirtieths (min. 18/30) and is intended as an overall evaluation of the results achieved.

Exam language

English