This is the grammar that opens the door to the Nibelungenlied and Wolfram von Eschenbach, the greatest achievements of medieval German literature. Joseph Wright's 1888 primer traces Middle High German, the language spoken in the High German-speaking regions from roughly 1100 to 1500, focusing on the Upper Bavarian and Swabian dialects that produced the era's most enduring verse. The book guides English-speaking students through the complexities of case, conjugation, and sound shifts, then rewards their effort with carefully chosen excerpts from Walther von der Vogelweide's political poetry, Hartmann von Ouwe's Arthurian romances, Berthold von Regensburg's fiery sermons, and selections from the Nibelungen cycle. Wright himself rose from a Lancashire quarry, working there from age six, to become Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford, a self-made scholar who taught himself to read during the Franco-Prussian War. For anyone serious about encountering medieval German in its original form, rather than through translation, this remains the essential first step.
