Schaf und Ziege im früchtgeschichtlichen Mitteleuropa

The book contains a series of studies which document the high value of sheep and goats in the early history of Central Europe north of the Alps. Questions concerning religious and economic history, folklore, and symbolism are discussed mainly based on linguistic phenomena. Furthermore, methodological problems of linguistic-philological oriented cultural studies are critically taken into consideration. Central investigation areas are on the one hand the etymology of IE. *kapros, the god and its theonym Gebrinius in the context of the low German, prehistoric transhumance, and on the other hand a reappraisal of the emblematic aspect of the Germanic Cornuti. Moreover, a detailed chapter to colour symbolism, light symbolism, and weather symbolism of sheep and goats demonstrates the significant role of flock beyond economy in the beliefs of people in former epochs. The book is in German.