Volume 146, Issue 2

In this paper, an alternative scenario of the development of German werden future is suggested based on a reanalysis of originally predicative past participles in werden -copula constructions as infinitives. The morpho-phonological and argument-structural preconditions for this reanalysis restrict the types of verbs expected in the relevant bridging contexts to certain strong and unaccusative verbs, which is supported by the results of a comprehensive corpus analysis of werden constructions in Old High German and Old Low German. At the same time, this scenario may explain the diachronic and areal distribution of werden future by virtue of the crucial role it assigns to the ge - prefix.

The discovery of a stone fragment from Svingerud/Hole in Norway, whose inscription is dated between 1/25 and 250 CE, attests to the early use of rūnō (cf. Zilmer/Vasshus 2023) as opposed to rūnōʀ . The plural rūnōʀ (ON  rúnar ) is attested on runestones of the Classical and Post-classical runic periods including C-bracteates. The paper aims to clarify whether rūnō is to be understood soberly with Morris (1985) and Antonsen (1980) as a term of everyday language ›message, inscription‹ to be distinguished from Goth. rūna ›mystery, secret, counsel‹, or rather as a term for ›secret, orally presented knowledge‹, before being linked up to the fuþark and writing in runes in the due course of its history.

In 1476, the minstrel Hans Behem triggers an unauthorised Marian pilgrimage to the village of Niklashausen (Tauber Valley). The bishop of Würzburg brutally suppresses the movement and executes Behem as a heretic. In the same year, Thomas Ruscher (d. 1510), a student of theology at Heidelberg, treats the matter in the form of a Latin drama. The text is influenced by the medieval tradition of the spiritual play ( ludus ), but also reactivates elements of the ancient tragedy. The article presents a critical edition of the Latin text, a German translation and a typological analysis.