Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #870773 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 361 pages

Customer Reviews

Fans of Gothic are Fans of Lambdin
As Lambdin states in his preface he has "attempted to write the kind of textbook I wish I had at my disposal when I was first learning" the language, and this is but one of his four "graded" textbooks (in addition to Biblical Hebrew, Sahidic Coptic, and Classical Ge'ez). This is in the modern style of language learning, i.e. no divisions into phonology/morphology/parts of speech etc. It has 23 lessons, all with copious excercies and vocabularies pertaining to them. There is a glossary but the reader should not find this as much of a necessity as in certain texts where no attention is paid which words appear in excercies/grammatical examples, etc. No flipping or hunting in this one.

For the comparative linguist: Each lesson has a doppelganger in the second half of the text. This second set of lessons are dedicated to the historical basis of the language from PIE to PG to Gothic. The philologist will also enjoy that Lambdin's book includes all four canonical gospels and two epistles, in addition to the usual glossaries, appendices,etc. Easy access to these texts may be of considerable interest in deciding between Lambdin and Bennet, for example, whose treatment, though similarly divided into lesson-format, is not as integrated.

Best Introductory Grammar of Gothic Yet!
As a pedagogical tool, this grammar of Gothic is unsurpassed. Lambdin discusses grammar in a thorough, but not condescending, manner. In discussing grammatical points, he gives excellent examples from the Gothic texts themselves. This textbook includes copious exercises, a historical grammar to be used in conjunction with the learner's grammar, and an excellent glossary in the back covering the entire corpus of the Gothic language. Most remarkable of all, Lambdin has included in this fabulous book all extant portions of the four Gospels in Gothic. Anyone desiring to acquire a thorough knowledge of the Gothic language cannot afford to be without this text. Although the text is a paperback, the content makes up for the price of $36.