Philology pursues a historical study of texts. It embraces three co-disciplines: manuscript studies (with textual criticism), hermeneutics, historical linguistics. In philological research, these co-disciplines concur to comprehend one text in its uniqueness and with respect to its origin.

Germanic philology focuses on languages and texts that originated in the so-called 'Old Germanic' linguistic phase, or in later phases, down to the 15th century. 

We will approach those texts by starting from their material context (parchment manuscripts, runic inscriptions etc.) and situational context (reconstruction of the living environment of the cultural community who produced these). We will then approach the texts themselves by analyzing the language in them reconstructing the linguistic and cultural context. As a third step, we will put the language spoken in a comparative-historical perspective by connecting them to the other cognate languages with the methods of historical linguistics. As a fourth step, we will be reflecting on reception of texts from earlier culture into our present-day culture and on the point of making philology today. These four steps will be taken in four case-studies, each focussing on one of them (s. Program)

N.B. The program might be slightly modified during the course to better fit the learning rhythm or the students' learning interests within philology. 

1) Introduction to the overall programme and to the teaching and learning styles to be adopted in the course. Introduction to the two optional labs included in the course programme (1. Manuscript study lab: working with parchment fragments at the State Archive; 2. Design thinking lab for the humanities: how to apply philological competences to societal problem-solving within the EU-funded Aula Emprende project).

2) Introduction to the world of manuscrips. A case-study: the manuscript containing the Old English heroic poem Beowulf. Philological work from the manuscript source to text editing.

3) Texts in languages stemming from Old Germanic in a Latin manuscript culture: the case of the Old High German heroic poem Hildebrandslied.

4) The concept of the 'source". A case-study: from northern mythology to the 'Myth of the North.'

LABS (6-12 hours) Students may choose between following labs:

1) Manuscript lab: working on parchment fragments at the Urbino State Archive.

2) Design thinking lab within the EU-funded project "Aula Emprende". Learning how to turn philological competences into problem-solving skills for societal issues.

Here is an overview of the Dublin Descriptors for the Bachelor level as they are practiced in this philology course (adapted to philology from the Appendix III, pp. 1-2, to the EHEA Paris 2018 Communiqué):

DD1: acquire (demonstrate) knowledge and understanding in philology. Students learn the principles and practice of philological work.

DD2: apply knowledge and understanding within philology and related fields; basing on knowledge from DD1, demonstrate the competence  to sustain arguments and  solve problems in  other fields. Students learn to apply the principles of philological work on texts from non-Germanic and non-ancient cultures and learn to make connections with academic fields outside philology.

DD3: gather and interpret relevant data within philology to inform judgements that include reflection on relevant social, scientific and ethical issues. Students become aware of the ethical implications of some fundamentals of philology in present-day society: for instance, respect for the authenticity of sources as pursued in philology as a means to detect fake-news and source manipulation in power-led human interactions.

DD4: can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences within and outside philology. Philology students acquire high confidence in their own linguistic skills through thorough linguistic analysis of sources; they train their rhetorical skills by analyzing the rhetorical component of texts as well as preparing written and oral presentations. They train these competences both in the regular course and in both labs.

DD5: have developed those learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study and undertake investigations also outside philology with a high degree of autonomy. Students learn and train these skills in this philology seminar by designing their own interest-driven examination project.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it