Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part I. "The Eternal Etymology": From Sprachgeist to Ferdinand de Saussure -- 1. Language Ensouled -- 2. Saussure's Dream -- 3. Verse Origins -- Part II. Tending toward Zero: From Runes to Phonemes -- 4. Wagner's Poetry of the Spheres -- 5. Pythagoras in the Laboratory -- 6. Jakobson's Zeros -- Afterword -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index