Germanic philology = the philological study of the Germanic languages particularly from a comparative /historical perspective

The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages are placed in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary texts in the earlier phases of the languages. Early modern publications dealing with OLD NORSE culture appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibu (Olaus Magnus, 1555) the first edition of the 13th century GESTA DANORUM (Saxo Grammaticus), in 1514

patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century: the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history. It is also one of the oldest known written documents about the history of Estonia and Latvia

(Angers Fragment), page 1, front In 1603, MELCHIOR GOLDAST (Swiss writer and an industrious though uncritical collector of documents relating to the medieval history and constitution of Germany) the first edition of Middle High German poetry, Tyrol and Winsbeck, including a commentary which focused on linguistic problems and set the tone for the approach to such works in the subsequent centuries. He later gave similar attention to the Old High German Benedictine Rule

In England, the beginnings of work on Old English language is marked by the increase of pace of publication increased during the 17th century with Latin translations of the

Edda (notably Peder Resen's Edda Islandoru of 1665)The term Edda (Old Norse Edda, plural Eddur) applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age. The books are the main sources of medieval skaldic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology.Germanic philology together with linguistics as a whole emerged as a serious academic discipline in the early 19th century, pioneered particularly in Germany by such linguists as Jacob Grimm. Important 19th century scholars include Henry Sweet and Mathias Lexer.

German linguistics/philology is roughly divided as follows:

Old High German (Althochdeutsch) 8th 11th centuries

Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch) 11th 14th centuries

Early New High German(Frhneuhochdeutsch) 14th 17th centuries

Modern German Standard (Standard German, German Dialectology) 18th 21st centuriesIn addition, the discipline examines German under various aspects: the way it is spoken and written, i.e., spelling; declination; vocabulary; sentence structure; texts, etc. It compares the various manifestations such as:

social groupings (slang, written texts, etc.) and geographical groupings (dialects, etc.).