The book consists of two parts and an appendix. In the first part, the oldest historical, linguistic, epigraphic, and archaeological traces of Germanic-speaking peoples are summarized. In the second part, the Germanic languages are introduced from the standpoint of their historical development from tribal past to modern dialects, followed by etymologies of the corresponding ethnonyms. The epigraphic period of Germanic history is set forth with examples of early runic inscriptions and their interpretations. Examples of literary texts and surveys of literary history supplement the development of each literary language. The Appendix consists of diagrams depicting the taxonomic position of the Germanic family and its internal classification; a sketch of comparative phonetics and morphology; several longer Latin texts with translations; and finally tables with variants of Runic and Gothic scripts.