Germanist

plural Germanists

1. datedhumanitiesA person who studies the Germanic languages, the associated literatures and/or cultures.First known use late 19th c.

   Synonyms: Germanicist

2. humanitiesA person who specializes in the German language, literature and/or culture of the German-speaking world.First known use late 19th c.

comparative more Germanist · superlative most Germanist

1. historiographyPertaining to the school of thought which downplays or denies the continuity of legal and cultural institutions between Rome and later medieval Europe, highlighting the role of external influences and innovation in the decline of the Roman Empire.

   1 more example

   The Germanist view also led to the description of post-Roman lawcodes as Germanic law, and, in archeology, to the new types of rural settlement which replaced the old Roman villas being called 'Germanic', and to the new burial forms, like furnished inhumation (with grave-goods), similarly being ascribed to Germanic influence.

   2005 [1995], “The Barbarian invasions”, in The New Cambridge Medieval History (The New Cambridge Medieval History), volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 36

   Antonyms: Romanist, continuity