The German verb haben occupies a pivotal position in the diachronic analysis of the Germanic languages, serving as a key example of how lexical items evolve through the interwoven processes of semantic expansion, morphological restructuring, and grammaticalization. Deriving from the Proto-Indo-European root keh₂p- (‘to seize, grasp, or take possession of’), the verb originally conveyed a concrete sense of physical control or acquisition. In Proto-Germanic, this root developed into both stative forms (haben-) and factitive forms (habjan- / hafjan-), reflecting an early diversification of aspectual and valency distinctions within the verbal system. These forms eventually gave rise to the modern German haben, whose semantic and grammatical versatility makes it a cornerstone of the language’s verbal paradigm. Over time, haben underwent a profound semantic shift from expressing tangible acts of possession or holding to denoting more abstract relationships of ownership and obligation. This transition exemplifies a broader typological tendency in the world’s languages, whereby verbs of possession often grammaticalize into auxiliary verbs marking perfect aspect constructions. By the Middle High German period, haben had become fully integrated as an auxiliary in compound tenses, functioning alongside sein (‘to be’) to mark the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbal classes in the formation of the perfect and pluperfect. Comparative evidence from related early Germanic languages Gothic, Old Norse, Old English, Old Frisian, Old Saxon, Dutch, and Old High German illustrates both the shared Proto-Germanic inheritance and subsequent dialect-specific innovations. For instance, Gothic habais and Old English hæbbe retain the original lexical meaning ‘to have,’ while their use as auxiliaries emerges progressively in later stages. This gradual grammaticalization trajectory highlights the dynamic interplay between syntax, semantics, and morphology in historical language development. Furthermore, the productivity of the root keh₂p- extends beyond the verbal domain. Nominal derivatives such as English haven (‘harbor’), German Hafen (‘port’), and even Old Irish cuan (‘bay’) testify to the enduring semantic field of containment and possession across the Indo-European languages. These reflexes underscore the conceptual continuity linking physical possession with spatial enclosure and, by extension, grammatical possession.

Abstract With regard to a theory of transtextual characters, central questions remain open or have hardly been identified as a problem. The article discusses some of these questions from a medievalist’s perspective, such as what the basic category of a literary character to be understood as transtextual is: ›text‹ (which would lead to the term ›transtextual‹), a piece of work including a specific ›storyworld‹ (which would lead to the term ›transdiegetic‹), or only a fictional storyworld (which would lead to the term ›transfictional‹). As a prerequisite for this discussion, I try to clarify how the identity of a character in different ›storyworlds‹ can be defined (e.g., via a prototype model or universalist theory). Although this has already been discussed at length, the relationship between the concept of ›storyworld‹ and literary theoretical concepts such as text, manuscript, work, and variants is still missing. The same is true for the connection between the theory of transtextuality and philological concepts that describe the relationships and interdependencies between texts, works, versions, redactions, and adaptations. Historising the theory of transtextuality therefore first requires a clarification of the concept of ›work‹, or the criteria for conceptual identity of a piece of work. Another unresolved fundamental question is whether transtextuality presupposes fictionality. This question has hardly been asked so far because transtextuality has almost exclusively been discussed using examples of fictional characters from modern literature (such as Sherlock Holmes or James Bond) or from entertainment media (such as Tarzan or Lara Croft). In this paper, I discuss this question for Middle High German narrative literature. As an example for non-fictional narratives, I have chosen biblical narratives (›Bibelepik‹), i.e., narratives that use either biblical or apocryphal material as their source. Among other questions, the article discusses the issue of the extent to which the specific conditions of authority and validity of sacred texts limit their potential for variation. This is because the licenses for shaping and re-accentuating biblical figures are extremely limited: spiritual storytelling is about retelling the events revealed by the Bible (and apocryphal biblical narratives) over and over again, but without changing the main plot or adding new characters. The main argument against extending the concept of transtextuality to characters such as Adam, John the Baptist or Herod, however, is that factual narratives do not produce their ›storyworld‹ themselves as fictional texts do. Their storyworld is to be understood as the actual world. The transgression necessary for a character to be transtextual, transdiegetic or transfictional can only take place from a distinguishable storyworld, and that is a fictional one.

Abstract For a narratology informed by cognitive sciences, narrative worlds can be understood as mental models of readers based on textual structures and inferences. Taking this as a starting point, this article aims to show how characters change not only their own profiles when they become transtextual, but also the shape of a storyworld they enter. The theoretical premises can be related to Wolf Schmid’s narratological model, which distinguishes between the story told in a narrative text and the deducible happenings underlying the selection of the story. In this sense, characters transport a past with them when entering a new world; through the inferential formations of the readers, the space-time structure of this world, of which the characters have now become a part, is also altered. I examine this hypothesis in two groups of pre-modern texts, namely Middle High German Arthurian poetry and Grimmelshausen’s picaresque novels. In a typological approach, I trace two forms of space-time relations that can be associated with transtextual characters. First, I analyse the typical way in which characters from Arthurian romances reappear or are invoked in other texts. In doing so, their deeds are remembered without being given a precise position in the past. Secondly, I discuss a case in which an Arthurian event, potentially already known to the audience, is taken up and placed as a background plot alongside the main plot of a new romance. The space-time coordination of the two plots does not require much narrative effort. This is due to the specific space-time structure of the Arthurian worlds, as I will show in a third step by contrasting some of Grimmelshausen’s texts. While the storyworlds of the Arthurian romances provide a framework that remains so general that it can include any number of other spaces, the world of Grimmelshausen’s novels is not expanded, but successively filled in with new details and thus condensed.

В статье рассматривается развитие семантических функций у безаффиксных имен существительных в средневерхненемецком и современном немецком языках. Научная новизна состоит в описании смысловой структуры дериватов на основе валентности и семантической характеристики мотивирующего глагола, что позволяет установить связь между производящей и производной основами. В результате на основе формулы толкования мотивирующего глагола устанавливается функция данных девербативов, а количественный анализ позволяет устанавливать наполненность каждой из лексико-семантических групп в диахроническом аспекте. The article examines the lexical and semantic groups of suffixless nouns in Middle High German and Modern German. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the consideration of the semantic structure of derivatives based on the valence and semantic characteristics of the motivating verb. This approach makes it possible to establish a link between the producing and derivative bases. The formulas of interpretation of the motivating verb enable to determine the function of these deverbatives. Quantitative analysis permits to define the completeness of each of the lexico-semantic groups in a diachronic aspect.

ABSTRACT This article examines the place of the St. Trudpert Song of Songs, a twelfth-century German Song of Songs commentary, in the histories of mysticism and women’s literature. Written by a cleric for an audience of nuns, the text includes Latin phrases with minimal context, inviting its female audience to grapple with the concealed mystical sense of these words. The text’s author thus assigns its female audience the opportunity to make meaning out of the Latin intertexts. This is a novel development in early Middle High German literature that anticipates the construction of women’s spiritual authority in later mystical texts such as the Flowing Light of the Godhead.

Abstract This article examines how the Middle High German Arthurian romances Erec and Iwein by Hartmann von Aue and Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg depicted and influenced the evolution and distinction of jousts from tournaments in the Middle Ages. Previous research focuses on the historical evidence regarding the development and role of medieval European tourneying and jousting in games, sports, and warfare, with little attention given to the study of tournaments in medieval literature. One specific problem in the research of tournaments that remains unresolved is the chronology and the evolution of the joust as a distinct tournament form. This article argues that Middle High German Arthurian romances Erec, Iwein, and Tristan anticipate the separation of the joust from the tourney and signal the rise of the joust as a distinct tournament form. By analyzing depictions of tournaments, and more specifically jousts, in Hartmann's and Gottfried's Arthurian romances, this article fills the gap in the research regarding the evolution of jousting as a distinct tournament form in the Middle Ages.

Abstract The article deals with Karl Stackmann’s essay “Mittelalterliche Texte als Aufgabe” (1964), which played a decisive role in turning away from the reconstructive edition and implementing the base manuscript principle for Middle High German literature. The supposed proof that ‘Lachmann’s method’ is not applicable here, however, fails to comprehend Lachmann’s own editorial practice and is subject to a serious misunderstanding of the genealogical method in general. Hermann Paul provided a thorough description of it as early as 1891. One of its central points is that the stemmatic analysis must operate with assumptions about the probability of coincidental matches between unrelated manuscripts.

The influential Middle High German “Marienleben” (c. 1300) by the Carthusian Philipp von Seitz is known to be an important source for the Old Danish popular book on the life of Mary and the infant Christ, known as “Jesu Barndoms Bog”, first published in 1508 by the Dutch printer Govert van Ghemen in Copenhagen. The Old Danish version is probably based not on the Middle High German text, but on a Middle Low German (or even Middle Dutch) manuscript. In this article the manuscript Lübeck, Stadtbibliotek, Ms. theol. germ. 23 4° is presented as a better means of comparison than the Middle High German text. Even though Ghemen’s print is not based on a single source, the Lübeck manuscript and the Old Danish version share extra material not found in any other German version. This article, partly based on a new book by Christina Ostermann on the Middle Low German reception of “Marienleben”, argues that Ostermann’s book and the Lübeck manuscript should be a point of departure for future research into “Jesu Barndoms Bog”.

Förstå is the central Swedish word for ‘to understand’. The verb is a loan from Middle Low German vorstān ‘to understand’, with counterparts in other West Germanic languages, German verstehen, Dutch verstaan etc. How a prefix in conjunction with the word for ‘to stand’ has given the meaning ‘to understand’ is by no means self-evident, and several different explanations have been suggested. Section 2 deals with the rise of the meaning ‘to understand’ in förstå, together with a discussion of a corresponding developmentin three other comparable prefixed verbs, Greek ἐπίσταμαι, Middle Low German understān (English understand) and Old High German in(t)stantan (Middle High German en(t)stehen). In the Greek verb the physical sense ‘stand beside something’, in understān the very similar ‘stand in the midst of something’ (not, as is generally believed, ‘to stand under something’) is the origin of the cognitive meaning ‘to understand’. In Old High German in(t)stantan, I explain the sense ‘to understand’ as a development from ‘by standing obtain something’. I also prefer explaining the rise of the sense ‘to understand’ in Middle Low German vorstān as a similar semantic process. In the analysis of the four prefixed verbs in section 2 it was found essential to acquire a grasp of the semantic development of‘to understand’ in Proto-Indo-European verbs. Section 3 gives a survey of the semantic developments that have been found, broken down into twelve categories consisting of the “pre-meanings”, the basic senses of the verb or a secondary sense of it, which is thebasis for the sememe ‘to understand’ in each category. In the categories 3.1–3.7 we find metaphorical processes (and similar developments) from the following pre-meanings: ‘grip, grasp with hands; acquire, come into possesion of’; ‘gather (and sort or order; separate, distinguish’; ‘arrive at’; ‘stand beside or in the midst of or in front of something’; ‘technically or electrotechnically join’. Categories 3.8−3.12 involve a transfer of the sense impressions ‘hear’ and ‘see’ and the development from the cognitive ‘notice’ and ‘know’.

The traditional view of Jewish settlement history in Europe posits migrations from the Mediterranean region through northern France and Italy into Bavaria and the Rhineland by the end of the first millennium. The Judaized dialects of German (known as Yiddish) were allegedly created when these Romance-speaking Jews switched toregional German dialects. Yiddish has traditionally been defined asa Judaized form of High German dialects. This paper will demonstrate how linguistic evidence allows us to postulate an innovative theory about the migration of Jews (both Palestinian emigres and indigenous European converts) – namely, through the Balkans into the bilingual Sorbo-German lands by the late first millennium A.D. In this view, Yiddish was created by Balkan Jewish emigres speaking one or more Balkan languages: Romance, Greek and/or South Slavic. Contrary to the common view, Yiddish is best seen as a dialect of Sorbian which eventually became relexified to Middle High German (thus resulting in a Slavic language with an overwhelming German vocabulary). The article specifically emphasizes evidence from the Slovene territory.

The article is focused on the semantic analysis of the Middle High German adjective heimlîch «domestic», «close», «trusted», «hidden», «secret» and its derivatives in Gottfried von Straßburg's Tristan. The very idea of concealment in medieval literature is well studied, but the lexical side of the issue remains practically neglected. This study examines the etymology of heimlîch and its derivatives and analyses the contexts in which these lexemes are used. The Old High German adjective heimlîh could have the meaning «domestic, native», from which «close, trusted» developed in Middle High German, and only in the XII century the meaning «hidden (from strangers), secret» is found for the first time. In «Tristan», this adjective is mostly used in the meaning of «trusted, close». The noun heimlîсhе derived from it is also mostly used by Gottfried in the sense of «trust, closeness». In both cases, «trust» can be interpreted as the feature of the bond between lovers, which, according to Gottfried, is inherent in true love. The verb heimlîhen in 'Tristan' can mean not only «to become trusted», but also «to make homely». The adverb heimlîche(n), on the opposite, belongs mostly to actions performed in secret. Thus, the use of the adjective heimlîch and its derivatives in «Tristan» reflects the European medieval context, where the «open/public» is opposed not yet to the «private» but to the «non-public/hidden».

The aim of this study is to describe the changes that occurred in the graphic system of the German language during the Old High German, Middle High German, and Early New High German periods, as well as to identify current trends in German orthographic writing. The key research methods employed include a comparative analysis of the script found in German written monuments and the method of graphematic analysis. The empirical material compris­es written records from the three historical periods of the German language, including the Vaterunser (The Lord’s Prayer). The conducted graphic analysis of German written monu­ments using the Vaterunser as an example revealed changes in the graphic system of the German language across these developmental stages. The presented material may be helpful in lecture courses and practical classes on the history of the German language and theoretical phonetics.

This research paper explores the experiences of women grappling with eating disorders through a phenomenological lens, concentrating on Leib and Körper as both are synonymous with ‘body’- ‘leib’ from Latin generally refers to the ‘body as a subject’ (i.e.) the body that I am, ‘körper’ comes from Middle High German meaning ‘body as an object’ which also denotes the body that I have are utilized in this paper to exhibit the current condition of women’s corporeality. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls and Elena and Clara B Dunkle’s Elena Vanishing: A Memoir are the selected literary texts which showcase how beauty standards and internalized trauma shape self-perception and corporeality. Kim Chernin’s Feminist theories enhance the study by revealing the intersection of body image, mental health and societal expectations. By engaging with medical humanities, this research offers valuable insights into the narrative and cultural dimensions of eating disorders, contributing to interdisciplinary conversations on mental health and identity.

Recent theoretical studies on masculinity have sensitized us to deeply layered problems hidden in many literary texts, both in the modern world and in the Middle Ages. We do not always simply face ‘toxic masculinity,’ but many conflicts addressed by the various poets can now be analyzed more closely by means of the theoretical model developed by Masculinity Studies. Numerous times, masculine identity emerges as surprisingly weak, troubled, or uncertain, and when the various male protagonists endeavor to compensate for their shortcomings, new challenges emerge affecting all society. Masculinity is displayed in many different manners, reflecting on a variety of social, psychological, and physical features. In male-dominated medieval society, the ideal of masculinity was probably much more pronounced than in later centuries because feudalism, intimately tied in with patriarchy, clearly favored men and promoted a specific model, the knight. Nevertheless, medieval poets often indicated considerable concerns with this aspect and revealed noteworthy cracks in the idealistic image of the glorified male, if they did not even present the collapse of that concept. To explore this issue further, this study takes a stab at one of the most popular short verse narratives by the Middle High German poet Konrad von Würzburg, Heinrich von Kempten (ca. 1261) and examines the various roles assumed by the male protagonists.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the complexities inherent in German grammar, focusing on key features such as the case system, verb conjugation patterns, and syntactic structures. The research explores the diachronic evolution of German grammar, tracing its development from Old High German through Middle High German, and examines how historical linguistic changes continue to influence modern usage. Additionally, the study addresses the cognitive and pedagogical challenges that learners face, offering targeted strategies for effective grammar instruction, including contrastive analysis and contextualized practice. By situating German grammar within a broader linguistic and historical context, this research contributes to our understanding of language complexity and the interplay between grammatical structure and language learning.

Abstract:This article explores the evolution of the German language from Old High German (500–1050 AD) through Middle High German, Early New High German, and Modern Standard German, examining key linguistic shifts, the influence of historical events, and the role of cultural figures like Goethe and Martin Luther. It also considers the future of the language in the context of globalization, digitalization, and language policy.

This article focuses on the interplay between and the ambiguity of female empowerment and disempowerment in female conversions to Christianity in Middle High German literary texts. With regards to gender, the ritual of baptism is of interest in several respects. Gender and genderlessness, sexuality, and desire, as well as nudity and shame, play a crucial role in baptism, as the ceremony is linked to the Fall of Man and involves ritual nudity. Although the conversion to Christianity by means of baptism in biblical terms (Gal. 3:27–28) erases gender, race, and social status, the Christian practice of baptism is asymmetrical regarding gender because usually only men administer the sacrament, whereas women merely receive it. Moreover, in medieval German literature, male power or romantic interests are often the driving force behind women’s conversions. By examining different versions of Saint Thecla’s legend, the conversion of Arabel-Gyburc to Christianity in Ulrich von dem Türlin’s Arabel, conversion as temptation in Rudolf von Ems’ Barlaam und Josaphat, and the juxtaposition of two female conversions in Salman und Morolf, it becomes clear that female agency and lack or loss of power often go hand in hand and are, in fact, inseparable in literary representations of conversions. From the perspective of gender, the baptism ritual is hence characterized by ambiguity and figures as a ritual of female empowerment and disempowerment alike.

This article explores the historical development, cognitive aspects, and sociolinguistic influences on noun gender in the German language. It traces the evolution of grammatical gender from Proto-Indo-European roots through Old High German and Middle High German to Modern German, highlighting key changes and the impact of external influences such as Latin and other languages. The study examines phonological and morphological shifts, semantic roles, and the challenges faced by learners due to inconsistencies in gender assignment. It also delves into ongoing debates about the necessity and complexity of gender, proposed reforms, and the importance of understanding historical context for language learning and teaching. The article concludes with potential future directions for the German gender system, emphasizing the balance between linguistic heritage and inclusivity.

Recent work found a correspondence between consonant clustering probability in monosyllabic lexemes and the three vowel types, short and long monophthong and diphthong, in German dialects. Furthermore, that correspondence was found to be bound to a North–South divide. This paper explores the preferences in consonant clustering of particular vowels by analyzing the PhonD2-Corpus, a large database of phonotactic and morphological information. The clustering probability of the diphthongs is positively correlated with frequency while the other vowels showed particular preferences that are not positively correlated with frequency. However, all of them are determined by a threefold pattern: short monophthongs prefer coda clusters, diphthongs onset clusters and long monophthong are balanced. Furthermore, it was found that this threefold pattern seems to have evolved from an originally twofold pattern (short monophthong prefers coda clusters and long monophthong and diphthong prefer onset clusters) in Middle High and Low German. This result is then further considered under the aspect of the compensation of the syllable weight and moraicity. Furthermore, some interesting parallels with the syllable vs. word-language typology framework are noted.

The research examines the peculiarities of the formation of the German language in the New High German period using the example of the plan of the Ukrainian city in Podil – Kamianets-Podilskyi. This document was created in 1726 in the city of Augsburg (northern Germany) by the famous German engraver and cartographer Gabriel Bodenehr. The work aims to study the process of the formation of the New High German language at its early stage in historical, cultural, regional and linguistic contexts; to illustrate them on the example of the text of the explication of the city plan. The task of this research is to characterize the peculiarities of the process of normalization of the German language in the New High German period; to determine changes in language levels on the example of the German text of the explanation of the city plan of Kamianets-Podilskyi. To achieve the specified goal and solve the tasks, the following research methods were used: descriptive, comparative-historical, biographical, comparative, and linguistic. As a result of the research, it was found that the text of the plan, although it was written in the New High German period, which is characterized by the desire to create a language standard and the departure from regional dialects, still retains its regional flavour and reference to the written norm of the Viennese chancellery. The conducted research proved that the orthographic and phonetic levels were most affected by the region, where there are significant variations of graphemes in marking the length and shortness of the sound, qualitative changes in vowel sounds, orthographic and graphic features of consonant markings, gravitation to the norms of the Viennese chancellery, as well as a gradual rejection of orthographic norms of the Middle High German period. Certain changes at the morphological level were found in the explication text, which testifies to the formation and consolidation of some grammatical categories (tense forms of verbs, use of passive constructions, declension of nouns and adjectives). The information focus of the text determines its lexical content, which can be seen in the author’s extensive use of anthroponyms (names of architectural and church buildings) and toponyms. The historical and cultural context of the development of the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi is reflected in the author’s use of proper names (names of historical figures, religious orders, political and military groups) and a significant number of borrowings from French, Turkish/Arabic, Latin, and Italian languages. It has been established that the syntactic level is the most normalized and closest to the modern German language. Therefore, the conducted linguistic analysis of the text of the city plan testified that in the first half of the 18th century, there was no complete unification of the written norm of the German literary language. However, separate attempts were made to standardize it. Among the promising research areas, it is worth conducting a comparative analysis of other city plans of this period in order to identify common features in the development of the German language.