Introductory Note
Filologia
Germanica — Germanic Philology is the first journal entirely
devoted to Germanic philology and closely related subjects
published so far in Italy. As luck would have it, it appears at a
time when the Italian university system is going through a series
of radical changes which will inevitably involve also this field of
study. For reasons too complex to be discussed here, quite a number
of scholarly disciplines that have existed so far will be dropped
as such from university curricula and conflated, together with other
(more or less) kindred disciplines, into larger and less
specialized groups. This will also be, in all likelihood, the
destiny of the subject ‘Filologia germanica’, with the somewhat
paradoxical consequence that the name of the present journal —
deliberately chosen by AIFG (Associazione Italiana di Filologia
Germanica, or Italian Society for Germanic Philology), which is the
sponsor of the journal — will no longer match with the specific
teaching and research subject at Italian universities. Yet it is
our firm conviction that, in spite of all the formal and official
changes that may take place, Germanic philology, as a well defined
and extended field of study, will continue to be cultivated, in
Italy and elsewhere, in the future as intensely and competently as
in the present. Actually, we hope — perhaps with a slight tinge of
immodesty — that the presence of this journal may contribute in
consolidating scholarly interest for this discipline. Therefore, in
launching it, we are sure we are doing the right
thing.
Although
primarily intended for an Italian readership, the journal is open
to contributions by scholars from all over the world (hence its
bilingual title), and articles may
be written in Italian as well as in English or in other languages
of international use.
By
decision of AIFG, each issue of the journal will be devoted to a
specific theme. Thus, the first issue is devoted to language and
Culture of the Goths, the second (scheduled for 2010) will be
concerned with the relations between the early Germanic peoples and
Italy, and so on. However, part of each issue might occasionally be
allowed to contain articles on subjects different from the main
theme.
The
present volume is dedicated to the memory of Piergiuseppe Scardigli
(13 October 1933 — 27 May 2008). He was not only one
of the founders of Germanic philology in Italy — and no doubt, more
than anyone else, he strove to make it a 'self-standing' academic
subject, i.e. not subordinate to other disciplines, such as
historical and comparative linguistics or German language and
literature, from which it derived many decades ago — but also one
the most eminent scholars of Gothic culture and literary tradition
in the world. We all owe him eternal gratitude for
that.
Fabrizio D.
Raschellà
(Editor-in-chief)