1. Not only Märchen: The Brothers’ Work in Linguistics

2. KHM 108. Hans My Hedgehog What unpleasant detail is left out of the beginning of the story? How does Hans spend his early childhood? What is Hans unable to do? How does this affect the plot? What do you think of Hans? Is he a sympathetic character? Why or why not?

3. KHM 113. The Two Kings‘ Children How is the prince supposed to die? What details sound suspicious to you? (i.e. which details sound “sanitized”) Did elements of this story frustrate you? Why or why not? Which other Grimm tales are similar?

4. KHM 111. The Expert Huntsman How does the huntsman become a huntsman? Why might this strike one as noteworthy? Which other narratives are echoed in the huntsman’s actions in the castle? Which of the “functions” did you notice in this story?

5. Kassel 1. Nov. 1806 “My inner inclinations, i.e. the studies which I could embrace with passion and love, stand somewhat in contradiction to my exterior associations, family and other relationships […] My chief intention is to be useful to my dear mother and my siblings, and I hope that God will assist me in this.” – Jacob to Tante Lotte, June 1805

6. 3 Phases of Work in Linguistics 1807-1816 Altdeutsche Wälder (periodical, 1813- 1816) Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) Kassel “[Grimm ist] noch in den ersten Grundsätzen der Sprachforschung ein Fremdling […]” (Schlegel) 1816-1837 Deutsche Sagen (1816-1818) Deutsche Grammatik (1819- 1837) Kassel > Göttingen (1830) Deutsches Wörterbuch (1838- 1863) Berlin 1837-1863 Political turbulence: Napoleon until 1815 Political turbulence: Napoleon until 1815 Political turbulence: Hannover constitution crisis 1837 Political turbulence: Hannover constitution crisis 1837 Political turbulence: March Revolution 1848 Political turbulence: March Revolution 1848

7. Kassel: living on Johannisstraße 1806 Jacob comes back from Paris > moves into house in Kassel – Takes a position in the Kriegskollegium (War Commission) and in the Library 100 Thaler salary – Published essays and a book about old German literature – Mother died May, 1808 1808-1814 Jacob is King Jeromé’s personal Librarian

8. Vienna, Paris again, then back to Kassel 1814/1815 Jacob attends Vienna Congress (end of the Napoleonic Wars) – Jacob begins to study Slavic languages: Czech and Serbian 1816 Jacob is the Elector’s Librarian / Wilhelm Assistant Librarian + Secretary (for the next 14 years) – Research grammar and Slavic languages

9. Second Phase: Grammar Deutsche Sagen 1816/1818 Deutsche Grammatik 1819 – Concerns itself primarily with a comparative study of Germanic languages – Deutsche Grammatik vol. II appears 1822: Grimm’s Law explained

10. Are languages logical? Ja, natürlich! (rationalistic Linguistics: „old“) – Antoine Arnauld / Claude Lancelot: grammaire générale et raisonnée (1660) – The words in a language represent something Jacob Grimm was skeptical: “Ever since people began handling the German language grammatically, a good number of books until Adelung* and from Adelung to today an almost larger number have been published. Because I do not want to step in, but rather out of line with these, I must at the outset explain why I hold the manner and conception of German grammars, especially those that have been published and endorsed in the last half century, to be abject, indeed asinine.” (Deutsche Grammatik Vol. 1, 1818 translation and emphasis mine) *a famous Germanist 1732-1806

11. „…wie es eigentlich gewesen ist“ Linguistics is supposed to be “a true history and not a novel […], thus is must bring forth languages not as they could or should be, but rather as they really are” – Adelung, Umständliches Lehrgebäude (1782)

12. Are languages logical? Ähm...maybe? (Romantic Linguistics: „new“) – Origins + Comparisons ( scientific ) Johann Gottfried Herder, Über den Ursprung der Sprache (1770) Friedrich Schlegel, Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier (1808) Wilhelm von Humboldt, Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluss auf die geistige Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechts (1836) – Words are almost like biological beings: they develop

13. Indo-European? 1786 Sir William Jones (in India) – Noticed similarity between Sanskrit, Greek and Latin 1816 Franz Bopp → „indogermanische Sprache“ – Rasmus Rask (Dänemark) → expanded the idea The idea of an Indo-European language comes from the romantic aesthetic

14. Over time, the consonants (p, b, d, etc.) have changed. The change was not random. It was similar in all Indo- European languages. Grimm’s Law Example: “p” > “f” and “g” > “k” Sanskrit LatinGreek German English pad-ped-pod-fußfoot ajrasageragrosAckeracre Jacob Grimm developed this idea from the work of Schlegel and Rask, but was the first to systematically describe it. The First Consonant Shift (Lautverschiebung) Ca. 1000 BCE Schlegel 1818 Grimm 1822 Schlegel 1818 Grimm 1822

16. (later) Historicism (History) Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) – German historian, founder of modern Historiography – Tell history “wie es eigentlich gewesen [ist]” (Linguistics) August Schleicher – Connects linguistics to the human (biological) development – Alusion to Darwin: Stammbaumtheorie

17. Wörterbuch Final Phase: the Wörterbuch 1838 the brothers begin working on a German dictionary – „Belegwörterbuch“ (historical, etymological) Both brothers worked on the project, Jacob intensively – Vol. 1 appeared 1854 – Vol. 2 in 1860 – Vol. 3 posthumously The project was finished in 1961 (32 Vols.)

18. Significance We seek to measure the magnitude of the loss that has been visited upon us and we find: it is immeasurable.” – Wilhelm Scherer on the death of Jacob Grimm, 1863 Jacob is “to thank for the constitution of German philology as a science.” – Ulrich Wyss, 1979

19. You can use it too!!