Ever since the time of Jacob Grimm, the scientific study of the Germanic traditions – and especially of the features of religious culture and poetic language they attest – has been closely intertwined with systematic linguistic analysis and comparative investigation. Still today, much research into these traditions continues to be shaped by the conviction that careful attention to linguistic data and comparative parallels can offer important insights into religion and poetics and that, conversely, the analysis of linguistic features and the comparative study of texts must take into account the religious contexts and poetic conventions that inform their creation and transmission. This volume brings together a cross-disciplinary team of sixteen specialists in ancient and medieval Germanic textual traditions and comparative Indo-European linguistics. Each chapter addresses aspects of the religion and poetic language of one or more Germanic traditions, focusing on their linguistic form and/or comparative parallels in other (mostly Indo-European) traditions. For all those interested in religious and poetic texts of the Germanic traditions, this book will provide innovative insights into key topics of current scholarly debate.
