Volume 135, Issue 4

This article contains an in-depth study of a medieval biblical glossary as it occurs in two closely related manuscripts, Clm 19440 and Clm 18140, both associated with the abbey of Tegernsee. A detailed analysis of the manner in which the scribe of Clm 18140 excerpted Latin and vernacular glosses on the Psalms from Clm 19440 as well as a thorough investigation of the material derived from other sources sheds new light on the respective roles of Latin and Old High German in the compilation of glossaries, the study of Scripture, and the general uses of the vernacular in eleventh-century Tegernsee.

In Notker’s writings, <p, t, k> are found in word-initial position if the word is preceded by an obstruent. The graphs <b, d, g> representing Old High German /b̥, d̥, g̊/ and <t> representing Old High German /t/ are found word-initially following vowels and sonorant consonants. In a radically new interpretation of Notker’s Anlautgesetz, Lahiri/Kraehenmann (2004) argue that Notker used the graphs <b d g> word-initally for derived geminate allophones after sonorants and <p, t, k> elsewhere for underlying geminates. In contrast to Lahiri/Kraehenmann (2004), the present article argues for the traditional analysis that Notker’s rendering of initial OHG /b, d, g/ as <p, t, k> reflects a neutralization of the contrast between OHG lenis /d̥/ and fortis /t/ when preceded by an obstruent, the same pattern found in modern Swiss German (Moulton 1986). It will be argued on the basis of graphemic and historical evidence that Notker maintained a three-way contrast between /d̥, t, tt/. Therefore, phonological length alone is not sufficient to describe the contrasts between stops in Notker’s dialect of Old High German.

This paper examines the various complex meanings of King Joram’s magic belt in Wirnt von Grafenberg’s ›Wigalois‹. The approach used in order to analyse these meanings follows recent tendencies in the field of cultural studies by assuming that (narrated) objects (›Dinge‹) are endowed with a certain individuality and independence. It appears that the object ›belt‹ serves on the one hand as marker when central changes occur within the narrative structure of the text; on the other hand, as a central ›Ding-Symbol‹ in a major part of the text, it is polyvalent. The analysis reveals that narrated objects are not only attributed with an individual meaning which is independent of their function concerning the action, but that they have a certain life of their own. In order to grasp this independent existence it is necessary to look at the action from a perspective that focuses on the objects and not vice versa.

In The Stricker’s novel ›Der Richter und der Teufel‹ there is a complicated connection of power, law, and economy. In the end the story explains, that God liberates the world of the novel from a greedy judge with the assistance of the devil. With that, God punishes excessive wealth on the one hand, but on the other hand he ensures an operating market.