Middle High German Lecture Series

In Michaelmas 2023, Dr Nikolaus Ruge (Universität Trier) returned to Oxford as Visiting Lecturer in German Historical Linguistics at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and delivered an updated lecture series on Middle High German. This was mainly designed as an introductory course for students of the German Paper IV ‘Historical Linguistics’ but the recordings are available to a general audience interested in medieval languages. The first two lectures were recorded by Dr Ruge in person in the Taylor Institution Library, Room 2, lectures 3, 4, and 7 were recorded by him, lectures 5, 6 and 8 from his script on his behalf by the Oxford tutors for Paper IV. The first lecture also saw the launch of the 11th edition of the popular study guide ‘Old and Middle High German’ (utb Sept 2023).

I. Teaching Middle High German: time, space, language (panopto recording, handout), 13 Oct 2023
II. Early Middle High German (1050-1170) (panopto recording, handout), live on 20 Oct 2023
III. ‘Classical’ Middle High German (1170-1250) (panopto recording, handout) recorded on 14 Oct 2023
IV. Late Middle High German (1250-1350) (panopto recording, handout) recorded on 14 Oct 2023
V. Graphemics and Phonology (panopto recordinghandout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by William Thurlwell
VI. Morphology (panopto recordinghandout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by William Thurlwell
VII. Word formation and Lexis (panopto recordinghandout), recorded on 19 October 2023
VIII. Morphosyntax and Syntax (panopto recordinghandout), recorded on 9 November 2023 by Joshua Booth

Lectures are accessible once they are recorded via the Panopto folder Paper IV, all lectures are included in the playlist “German Historical Linguistics” https://tinyurl.com/PaperIVHistoricalLinguistics. Thanks for help with the English translation of the lectures to William Thurlwell, for technical and topical support to Henrike Lähnemann.

The textbook for this lecture course is The Oxford Guide to Middle High German. The set text for Middle High German is Helmbrecht in the edition by Karl-Heinz Göttert (2015). Oxford students can access further resources such as reading lists and essay topics via the Canvas page.

Middle High German Reading Group MT 2021

Hello fellow friends of Medieval German, 

with a slight delay, we want to introduce this term’s Middle High German reading group.

It is a great opportunity to improve your reading and translating skills in a relaxed and informal environment and everybody is welcome. We translate and discuss a variety of medieval texts both prose and poetry. 

This terms topic will be adultery, so you can look forward to  

4th week: Nibelungenlied 

5th week: Tristan (Gottfried von Straßburg) 

6th week: Tristan (Gottfried von Straßburg) 

7th week: Die Suche nach dem glücklichen Ehepaar (Heinrich Kaufringer)

8th week: Der Renner: Ziegenschwank (Hugo von Trimberg) 

We will meet every Thursday at Somerville College in the Productivity Room (Margery Fry) at 9:00 and are looking forward to seeing you all there.

If you want to participate, please send an e-mail to melina.schmidt@lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Also, as the texts and some useful information about Middle High German will be shared in a Dropbox, please include your Dropbox e-mail address, so we can add you.

We are really looking forward to meet you all!

All the best

Rebekka and Melina

Image: Da1 (D) = Darmstadt, Ld. u. Hochschulbibl. Cod. 2779 (Hugo von Trimberg: ‘Der Renner’): The lover and the goat, f. 186v