HOW TO READ AND WRITE: ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GOTHIC LANGUAGE FOR ENGLISH STUDIES

Gothic is the earliest Germanic language to appear in extensive specimens, thus offering a starting point for any comparative analysis within the Germanic group. In view of this, the present paper contains several remarks on the importance of the Gothic language for English studies. Rather than examining Gothic for the purposes of comparative grammar, the author of this paper approaches the topic from a lexical perspective, providing a few etymological examples in an attempt to illustrate how close Gothic and (Old) English are to each other. As words disclose much about the history and culture of the people who use them, the paper reports on selected aspects of the life of Germanic peoples, including the Anglo-Saxons. The final section of the study presents some comments on the status of Gothic as viewed by Czech Anglicists.