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Germania Semitica explores prehistoric language contact in general, and attempts to identify the languages involved in shaping Germanic in particular. The book deals with a topic outside the scope of other disciplines concerned with prehistory, such as archaeology and genetics, drawing its conclusions from the linguistic evidence alone, relying on language typology and areal probability. The data for reconstruction comes from Germanic syntax, phonology, etymology, religious loan names, and the writing system, more precisely from word order, syntactic constructions, word formation, irregularities in phonological form, lexical peculiarities, and the structure and rules of the Germanic runic alphabet. It is demonstrated that common descent is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for reconstruction. Instead, lexical and structural parallels between Germanic and Semitic languages are explored and interpreted in the framework of modern language contact theory Introduction:Methodology of research in prehistoric language contact --Zur Entstehung des Germanischen --English as a "Celtic" language : atlantic influences from above and from below --Amsel und Merula --Germania Semitica : abr- 'strong', with a reflection on Abraham/Theodoric --Atlantis Semitica : structural contact features in Celtic and English --Germania Semitica : aþal- (OE ædel-, G Adel) 'nobility' With an appendix on Gk. ... --Germania Semitica : Pre-Gmc. -at- in E maiden, G Magd/Mädchen, Goth. magaps --Key issues in English etymology --Germania Semitica : Gmc. drag-, trek- (Lat. trah-, Gk. ... -- ) --On the rise of 'Celtic' syntax in Middle English --Semitic, Celtic, English : the transitivity of language contact --Zur Etymologie von Rauch und riechen --PGmc. drepa-, G treffen 'to hit' --Germania Semitica : sibjō --Languages in prehistoric Europe north of the Alps --Syntax und Sprachkontakt : Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der indogermanischen Sprachen des Nordwestens --Note on the etymology of PGmc. smitan and smipaz (E smite, smith, G schmeißen, Schmied, etc.) --Sprachgeburt durch Sprachkontakt : die Entstehung des Englischen --Phol, Balder, and the birth of Germanic --Glauben wir noch an die Lautgesetze? : zur Etymologie von Phol und Balder im Zweiten Merseburger Zauberspruch --The name of the Isle of Thanet --Was Proto-Germanic a creole language? --Münze, mint, and money : an etymology for Latin Moneta With appendices on Carthaginian Tanit and the Indo-European month word --Ne'er-a-face : a note on the etymology of penny, with an appendix on the etymology of pane --A note on the etymology of Germanic skellingaz 'Shilling' : with an appendix on Latin siliqua 'a small coin' --Grimm's Law and loan-words --Germanische Runen und phönizisches Alphabet --Zur Reihung der Runen im älteren Fuþark --Semitic influence in Celtic? Yes and No --The source of the Ing rune and of the futhark --Abbreviations --References --Index of Atlantic/Hamito-Semitic etymologies --Index of Hamito-Semitic words, word forms, and roots --Index of Vasconic etymologies --Index of Toponyms --Subject Index.
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