The Saussurean study on Germanic legends

ABSTRACT

In this work, we aimed to expose the study carried out by Ferdinand de Saussure about the Germanic legends. The study, which comprehends 18 notebook and various separate sheets, was developed between 1903 and 1910. Therefore, it is, to some extent, concomitant to the courses in General Linguistics taught by Saussure from 1907 to 1910. This way, we investigated in which aspects Saussure’s mithografic studies are related to his theorization on General Linguistics, considering specifically the linguistic category of the proper name and the notions of arbitrariness, mutability and immutability of the sign as well as the concept of linguistic value.

Key-words:
Saussure; germanic legends; cours in general linguistics; proper name