Volume 144, Issue 3

Normally, translated texts are avoided in research into the syntax of older stages of a language in order to avoid erroneous analyses of potential influences from the source language. However, autochthonous texts, too, sometimes raise doubts as to their representativeness for a given stage of the language. The current article aims to see how much independent Middle Low German syntax can be found in two different psalm translations. This serves to ascertain whether translated texts may be valuable in research on Middle Low German syntax after all, particularly as they may contain features that are underrepresented in other genres. It is shown that translated texts can indeed be used to cross-check statements about syntactic features of Middle Low German.

This article connects the concept of ›give and take‹ in medieval societies with detailed analyses of the rhetorical figures chiasmus and parallelism. It suggests that the structure of ›give and take‹ can be seen as reflected in the text structure. Three Middle-High-German narratives are analyzed: ›Lanzelet‹, ›Willehalm‹ and ›Straßburger Alexander‹, representatives of the trois matières . The article shows that the stylistic devices with which gifts are negotiated differ in detail from text to text, but also that figures of syntactic and semantic similarity and mirroring are used consistently across the texts.

With the narratological concept of a literary character existing only within the literary text, medieval literary characters pose a problem as they often appear in several texts that sometimes depict very different versions of them. Looking at King Arthur’s nephew Gawain as a character very much afflicted by this, the article suggests an approach to character that sees every single text drawing from an always-growing amount of collective knowledge about the character. Assuming that the perception of each version of the character is influenced by knowledge about the other versions, this approach sees the emergence of a complex character in medieval literature as a process that goes beyond any one single text.

The polyvalence of âventiure on the one hand, and of colours on the other challenges researchers time and again. This article – using the example of ›Wilhelm von Österreich‹ by Johann von Würzburg – aims to show that colours as well as âventiure , while undoubtedly constituting complex phenomena, follow a very recognisable systematisation and are closely linked in terms of occurrence. Therefore, it can be stated that colours are not exclusively connected to objects or characters specific to âventiure , but, in addition to that, their polychromy accentuates and anticipates âventiure .