A Brief History of the German Language
The Language of Austria, Germany, and
Parts of Switzerland
By Linda Andrean
Foreword: The language of Austria is German, a language that has a long and rich history of development. All languages develop through the process of constant evolution. The following description
is an overview of important historical developments of the German language as used today in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and surrounding areas of those countries. It is a chronological tracing of
the influences affecting German as a written and spoken language. Technical aspects of development
are given brief recognition. In his introduction, Professor Gerhard Weiss describes some major technical aspects of German.
Before reading the text, I suggest the reader go to the end of the article to review and define the vocabulary words. This will assist you in more clearly understanding many of the terms used and will
aid you in reading and comprehending the text.
A profound thank you to Gerhard Weiss for his time and effort in reading and commenting on the article and to Gary Cohen for his input. If you have questions or comments on the article, please address
them to me at casahy@umn.edu.
Thank you - and I hope you will find the information interesting and useful!
Linda Andrean
Center for Austrian Studies,
University of Minnesota
A scene from Salzburg, Austria
Introduction to the History of the German Language
Language, the basic means of humans to communicate, has been subject to constant change – brought about by
changing conditions, movements of people, intermingling, etc. The German language, now spoken in Germany,
Austria, parts of Switzerland, and some adjacent areas has gone through a long evolutionary process and shows
many regional variations (dialects, the “local” speech).
Basically, today’s German is part of what one calls the “Indo-European Family of Languages” (IE), related fairly
closely to other “Germanic” Languages, such as English, Dutch, the Scandinavian languages, and more remotely to
other European languages, such as Latin (and its derivatives Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, etc), Greek, and
the Slavic languages (Polish, Russian, Czech, etc). Even Sanscrit, Persian, and Urdu are distant relatives.
What distinguishes the Germanic branch of the family, and how did “German” evolve? All Germanic languages
differ from other Indo-European languages through the so-called “first consonant shift.” We don’t know exactly
when that happened, but it may have begun before 500 BC. Oversimplified, in “proto-Germanic”, the IE consonants p, t, k become f, (pronounced like English [th]) and h. IE b, d, g evolve into p, t, k. A couple of examples,
taken from Latin (preserving the IE consonants) and English (showing the proto-Germanic change): Latin: piscis
– English: fish; Latin: tres – English: three; Latin: decem – English: ten; Latin: genu – English: knee. This “first
consonant shift” separates the Germanic languages from all other Indo-European languages. Among the early
Germanic languages are Anglo-Saxon (ancestor of our modern English), Old Norse (ancestor of Icelandic and
other Scandinavian languages), Gothic, Old Franconian, etc.
Now, none of these Germanic languages are yet “German.” German evolves through a “second consonant shift,”
which began before the seventh century AD and moved gradually from the mountainous area of the south (Upper
German – High German) to the low lands of the north (Low German) and never quite reached the coastal line.
So, to this day you have low German dialects that do not reflect the change. And, “low” and “high” are not “classdistinctions”. Here is (again over-simplified) an overview of the second consonant shift: Germanic p, t, k become
High German pf; z; ch. Examples: English: penny – German: Pfennig; English: tooth – German: Zahn; English:
make – German: machen.
Modern German has gone through many phases of development. Basically, one speaks of Old High German (from
about 700 AD to the eleventh century); Middle High German (from about 1050 to 1350); Early New High German
(1350 to 1600); New High German (from about 1600 to the present). Vocabulary has changed as social conditions
have changed. Contacts with other countries through wars, trade, migrations, developing technologies, etc., have
over the centuries introduced many loan words. From the days of the Roman occupation of the Rhine-Danube
area and the dominance of the Roman Catholic church, Latin (as government and liturgical language) had a tremendous influence on the vocabulary of German. Later, it was French, most recently it has been English – especially in its American form. Since Germany did not become a unified country until 1871, it had no cultural center
(like Paris in France), and regional dialects remained dominant (you spoke “Bavarian,” “Swabian,” “Plattdeutsch”
(Low German), etc.). By the end of the Middle Ages (sixteenth century), however, serious attempts were made
to create a “standard” German language, so that the regions could more easily communicate with each other and
that laws and directives passed by local princes could be understood throughout their jurisdiction (Kanzleisprache
– Chancellery Language). The Protestant Reformation and especially Martin Luther’s bible translation (1522 New
Testament, 1534 entire Bible) were paramount in spreading a standard language, based largely on the chancellery language in use at the Saxon court in Meissen. This is the language that formed the basis for today’s standard
German, often referred to as “Hochdeutsch.”
Now, lets look at the history in some greater detail.
Gerhard Weiss
Professor Emeritus
German, Scandinavian, and Dutch
University of Minnesota
It’s all About Communication
For people to live together, they must be able to communicate with one another. Language is the tool
of communication. Language was spoken long before people began writing. Languages constantly
undergo changes. Words are dropped, new words are developed, some words are adapted from other
languages and meanings of words change over time. Shakespeare – who wrote in beautiful English – is
often hard to understand for today’s speakers of English. The same is true for older German texts, or
older documents in any language. Languages have a history, and in the following section you are given
a brief outline of the history and development of the language called German, or “Deutsch.”
German is spoken today by the people of Austria, Germany, portions of Switzerland, and some other
adjacent regions. Contemporary German has been shaped by a long history. While the origins for the
written documents date back to the eighth century, its spoken use is much older. All languages developed from a common parent language and relationships are more obvious in the earlier stages of the
languages. German is part of the parent family of languages called “Indo-European”, which includes
most European languages as well as Persian, Sanskrit, and Urdu.
The best way to trace word origins is through sounds and vocabulary. Following are some examples of
the third person singular of ‘to be’:
Sanskrit
ásti
Greek
estí
Latin
est
Gothic
ist
English
is
These three maps illustrate the spread of the Indo European languages.
The early Indo European languages began about
2000 B.C.E. with Vedic Sanskrit, Mycenaean
Greek and Proto Italic.
By 1500 A.D. the Indo European language group included many different languages
and extended from India
through Europe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages
Most authorities consider the first of the speakers of the Indo-European language as originating in Asia
Minor during the Late Stone Age, about 2500 to 2000 B.C. The date is determined by tracing common
features of words as well as words expressing similar experiences. The eastern descendants (Indian,
Persian, Armenian, Albanian, Slavonic, and Baltic groups) of the Indo-European language developed
patterns different from the Greek, Latin, Celtic, and Germanic groups. For example, there is a difference in the front k sound which became an s or sh sound among the eastern groups and in the western
group it remained plosive (produced by the complete stoppage and sudden release of the breath, as the
sounds of k,p, and t when used initially).
By the end of the second millennium B.C.E., Indian, Hittite, and Greek had developed separate characteristics. The speakers of the Indo-European languages were spread over wide areas of Europe and Asia
when written records appeared. The major groups consisted of: Indian (Vedic and Sanskrit), Iranian
(Avestic and Old Persian), Armenian, Albanian, Baltic, Slavonic, Greek, Italic, Celtic, and Germanic.
It is not difficult to imagine that as people moved further from the original setting, the language they
spoke began to change as they moved further away from one another and had no way of maintaining
communication. They also came into contact with people who spoke other languages and assimilated
some of the features from those languages. In addition, new environments and experiences created a
need for new ways of expressing oneself, i.e. hot – cold, mountains – flat lands.
Developing written records
Talking to one another was the first stage in communication,
but when people found it necessary to have a more permanent
manner to track their activities, they had to develop a system to
do so. Drawings were the earliest form of some sort of writing to
document events, since it is easier to record events than abstract
ideas. The earliest records known are of experiences recorded in
cave paintings, which date back several thousands of years. The
writing we do today had its origins thousands of years ago and
slowly changed to more sophisticated ways of recording ideas
and events.
All of written language began with pictures or pictographs.
Cave painting from India
Cave painting from Altamira, Spain
15,000 – 12,000 BC
Cave painting from France
www.mimenta.com/VisualArts/Visual%20Art07.html
The pictures on the preceding page are samples found from around the world of the earliest drawings
that illustrated events important in everyday life. From the pictures, what events do you think the artists were depicting? You see people doing something and you see animals. But what are they doing?
Why do you think it was important for the artist to draw these figures doing what they are doing?
As societies developed, more complex systems
were created to express events. Creating symbols with greater degrees of complexity meant
ideas could be recorded as well. Ideographs (a
symbol representing an object or idea rather
than a word), such as those still used by the
Chinese, were the oldest written symbols to be
used for expression. In addition to more refined
symbols, the next step was to put the expressions on materials that could be transported
versus stationary walls that someone would have
to go to. Stone tablets, animal skins, papyrus
were among the early materials.
Animals and people were drawn, but eventually
they were represented in a more complex manner that allowed for more expression.
Hieroglyphs from Egypt date back many thousands of
years and are one of the earliest forms of writing.
From karenswhimsy.com/hieroglyphics.shtm
Hieroglyphics can be seen in the background of these ancient
Egyptian drawings.
www.mimenta.com/VisualArts/Visual%20Art07.html
These two samples of the cuneiform script, which was created about 3,000 B.C., illustrate forms that
look more like styles of writing we would more easily identify as writing.
www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/58018983
Semitic peoples in about 1500 BC used a phonetic (spelling conforming to pronunciation)
alphabet, which was adopted by the Phoenicians and then the Greeks. The Greek alphabet
“is the parent of all alphabets in eastern and
western Europe. It was adopted – and adapted
to suit widely different languages – largely as
a result of political and ecclesiastical forces,
notably the Roman Empire and the Christian
Church.” (Chambers, p. 26) Latin, the language of the Roman Empire and the western
church, left the legacy of its alphabet for writing the languages of western Europe.
The Romans used just 23 letters to write Latin:
ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVXYZ
The Greek alpahbet
The most important evidence for dating the movement of people in northern Europe before writing is
the archeological evidence from weapons most often made from reindeer horn and arrowheads made
of flint. These objects indicate the earliest inhabitants of the area we know today as “Germanic” to have
been in the region about 10,000 B.C.E. Over the next few thousand years these people left behind bone
and stone artifacts as well as wooden arrow shafts, canoe paddles and crude pottery which were found
in soil and peat bogs which preserved the items. From between 2500 – 1500 B.C. there is evidence
pointing to the domestication of animals and the planting of grain as well as production of more sophisticated pottery. The next stage of social development was the breeding of stock and the development of
a battle-axe type weapon. By 1500 B.C.E. these are the people dominating the north European area.
Prior to the Christian era the Germanic tribes north of the Alps developed the so-called runic characters.
The runic texts appear on movable objects such as metal, bone and wood. The characters were often
associated with pagan religion. The result was that once Christianity became the dominant religion, the
use of runic characters was abondoned.
Taken from Waterman, Appendix I, Plate I
The early German language
Now we come to the big questions. How did the German language develop? How did the speaking and
writing components develop? To find some answers, we have to turn to the early runic artifacts to assist
in finding the origins. Artifacts have been found that can be traced to about 2,000 B.C., when groups of
people moved northwest across the continent of Europe to the western part of the Baltic area to what is
now Sweden and Denmark. Over the centuries as they migrated, their language changed and eventually
became what is referred to as Primitive Germanic. During the Bronze Age, (2nd millennium B.C.E. to
about 800 B.C.E.) the language area grew to include what we know as the northern German areas.
Primitive Germanic is divided into three branches:
•
North Germanic (Swedish and Danish in the east and Norwegian and Icelandic in the west)
•
East Germanic (Gothic)
•
West Germanic (Anglo-Frisian, the parent of English and Frisian and Primitive German,
the parent of High and Low German dialects)
About 250 A.D another period of tribal migrations, Völkerwanderungszeit, began. Since the tribes did
not have a system of writing to document their language or events, archaeologists have reconstructed
the movements by dating tools and house wares as well as burial sites.
Roman records from Julius Caesar and the Roman historians Pliny and Tacitus indicate the Germanic
tribes had been in contact with the Romans for some time. The Roman Emperor Julius Caesar established the Rhine River as a natural border of the Roman Empire to the northeast following the Battle of
Alesia in 51 B.C.E.
http://student.britannica.com/eb/art-1821/The-extent-of-the-Roman-Empire-in-AD-117
Archaeology points to five Germanic tribes that had emerged by the first century A.D. The first recognizable developments date back to about 500 B.C.E. to 500 A.D., when there was a tremendous movement of many people over long distances. Most of the migration had turned southward into the heart
of the continent by this time. As these peoples migrated and came into contact with one another, they
began to merge and blend their languages.
With the development of Christianity during the Roman era, literacy was the monopoly of the Roman
Christian church for secular as well as church administration. Writing in the Roman Empire was in
Latin and with the collapse of the Roman Empire, writing and book culture was sustained in small pockets of education located in the monasteries.
One of the first serious attempts to create a text in a Germanic language is the translation of the bible from Greek
into Gothic by Bishop Ulfilas (311 – 383 A.D.), for which he
devised a Gothic alphabet based on the Greek alphabet.
Gothic alphabet
http://original.britannica.com/
eb/topic-613200/Ulfilas
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Gothic_alphabet.png
By the middle of the third century A.D. several Germanic tribes known as the Franks began consolidating power and defeating the Roman forces. By the fifth century the Frankish Empire had been consolidated and became the stabilizing force in the Germanic world, beginning with the reign of King Clovis
(Chlodowech) in 481-511 and lasting to the reign of Charlemagne in 768 – 814. Clovis consolidated his
power through marriage and his conversion to Christianity which was the religion of his wife. Clovis
made certain the Frankish court was converted to Roman Christianity.
www.stadtwanderer.net/.../bourgogne/burgundia
Under Clovis’s rule, the monasteries became missionary centers with specific goals. In addition to
spreading Christianity, the purpose of the centers, known as the Klosterkultur, was to educate the nobility and clergy, and in so doing they became the intellectual as well as religious centers of the empire.
Latin was the only language acknowledged for use in the centers. The spread of Latin throughout the
Germanic world as the only language of the administrative bodies and the church remained until the
13th century, when in 1225 the Sachsenspiegel, a book of common law, was translated into Low German.
Latin, the language of the Christians, was initially used by the monks who worked among the people to
spread Christianity. However, for everyday communication, people still spoke in their local German
dialects. As Charlemagne consolidated the empire he developed a court academy to which he brought
scholars from all across his empire to teach Christian education. Charlemagne also introduced efforts
to begin a German written literary medium. The monasteries recognized the need for a German written
language if they were to spread Christianity to the common people. There were two movements going
on simultaneously. One constituted formal education and the other was developing outreach to the
general population.
Around 770 German texts begin appearing on a recognizable basis in various dialects. Oral transmission had been the key method for transmitting events among the common Germanic peoples.
During the late eighth century there appear texts, such as riddles and magic spells, in sufficient
continuous German that make it possible to do formal linguistic analysis. “Das Hildebrand Lied”
based on earlier ballads, was written in German by monks in the monastery of St. Boniface in
Fulda, Germany, around 800 AD, and is the oldest epic surviving from the period.
First page from the Hildebrandslied
Source: http://www.hiltibrant.de/hildebrand/hilde1.html
Translation into modern German:
Ich hörte das sagen, daß sich Herausfordrer allein
getroffen, Hildebrand und Hadubrand zwischen zwein Heeren.
Sohn und Vater ihre Rüstungen
richteten, bereiteten sie ihre
Kriegshemden, gürteten sich ihre
Schwerter an, die Helden,
über die Panzer,da sie zu dem
Kampfe ritten. Hildebrand
sprach, Heribrands Sohn: er war
der ältere
Mann, Lebensweisere…
http://www.mhsbc.com/news/2004/
2004v10n1.htm
The reign of Charlemagne, the Carolingian period (ca. 800 – 900 A.D.) with Aachen as its capital, is
characterized by the use of written Latin and spoken German. The period is considered to be one of a
cultural revival. Charlemagne encouraged literacy, the arts, architecture, the study of law and scripture.
During the flourish of culture, there were two epic poems created during the ninth century in German
literature, Heliand, a poetic version of the life of Christ, and Otfrid’s Gospel Book.
New problems arose for the scribes who were to be writing in German. The type of script to be used had
to be agreed upon to maintain consistency in the texts. They had to make certain that errors in copying
were dealt with while at the same time they had to develop spelling conventions. How they were to deal
with the lack of a standard language, as well as figuring out how to match German sounds and Latin
letters were also important considerations. People were venturing into unknown territory and had to
create rules and practices to make the written language workable for writer and reader.
The High and Low German dialects were based on the second consonant shift. Geographically the dialects are distinguished by a boundary that can be drawn from Aachen to Cologne to Benrath then east to
Düsseldorf, Kassel, Magdeburg, and Frankfurt an der Oder river until it reaches the Slavic area. North
of this ‘Benrath line’ is the Low German area of the lowlands near the coasts and to the south is the High
German linguistic area found in the highlands or near the mountains.
http://www.deutsch-lernen.com/images/karte.gif
To help illustrate some of the problems for scribes developing a standard German language, look at the
list of words below from several modern Indo-European languages. The chart illustrates the strong
common elements that still exist between the languages and you can also see how dialects would change
the sound of a word.
German
Dutch
Swedish
Danish
English
Erde
Feld
Frost
Gras
Hagel
Licht
Salzwasser
Schnee
Stern
Welt
Wetter
aarde
veld
vorst
gras
hagel
licht
zout water
sneeuw
ster
wereld
weer
jord
fält
frost
gräs
hagel
ljus
saltvatten
snö
stjärna
värld
väder
jord
mark
frost
graes
hagl
lys
saltvand
sne
stjerne
verden
vejr
earth
field
frost
grass
hail
light
salt water
snow
staf
world
weather
from Keller, p. 118
The four major periods in the history of the German Language
Following the death of Louis the Pious in 840 A.D., the Treaty of Verdun in 843 divided the vast Frankish empire into three parts between the warring heirs. Lothar, the eldest, obtained the land extending
from the North Sea into Italy, including Rome. His brother Charles received the land to the west and
brother Louis that to the east. The division prefigures the modern states of Germany and France.
The history of the German language from this period is divided into (A.D.):
•
Old High German (c. 770 – c. 1050)
•
Middle High German (c. 1050 – c. 1350)
•
Early New High German (c. 1350 – C. 1650)
•
New High German (c. 1650 to the present) (ibid p. 31)
The location of the language users and the purpose for which language was used has characterized the
features of German over the centuries. The terms “High” and “Low” German were initially used to describe the geographical location of the users of certain dialects. Simply put, the users of the High dialects were to be found in the higher and more mountainous regions, and the users of the Low dialects
were found in the lowlands, usually around the coastal areas. In addition to the location, vocabulary
was influenced by who was using the language and for what purposes. Communication in the religious
community between the priests and missionaries would use mainly words with religious meaning.
When it was the knights who were talking, there would be of military or combative to describe their activities. When it was farmers talking to one another, their vocabulary revolved around their crops and
animals. While these examples are not very different from what is experienced in today’s conversations
among certain groups, the major difference was that people lived in isolated communities. Separated
from one another, it is easy to see how dialects developed. The isolation of groups also meant that a
standard German language that could be used by the whole of the society did not develop for several
centuries and then it was because there was a strong motivation to develop a commonly understood
language.
Initially, very few people received any sort of education. It has only been relatively recently (1700’s)
that the idea of common people getting an education was even thought of. Reading was the prerogative
of the privileged few. Clergy and nobility were the only members of society to receive an education and
that was in the monasteries where Latin was the spoken and written language. Therefore it follows that
the written texts were originally from the church. Eventually Latin was used as the official language
as well as for laws and treaties. The gradual expansion of political, social and commercial contacts
required a common system of communication through speaking and writing. German remained for
centuries a spoken medium in the form of its dialects and the first written German was done in dialectical forms.
One of the most important surviving texts from the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, is the “Song
of Songs”. It formed part of the
essential reading material in a
monastic education. The most
definitive German language version was composed about 1060
A.D. by Willeram of Ebersberg, a
nobleman by birth who became
the head of the monastery school
in Bamberg and then the Bavarian
abbotry of Ebersberg. The work
was dedicated to Henry IV. It is
made up of Latin verse and German prose. The original mix of
languages was most likely intended to prepare those who had
to preach to the public using the
native language.
Song of Songs from www.mmdc.nl/static/site/research_and_educatio...
The Age of Chivalry
The Middle High German period developed a literature of chivalric and courtly poetry, reaching its
greatest strides around 1200. It is the period in which non-clerics assume equal importance to the
clergy in the production of writing. A literary language was developed during the period that was used
more widely than any single dialect and it enjoyed a sense of cultural prestige. Court literature was
beginning to flourish in southern Germany and Austria. W. Walker Chambers writes that the success
of the literary language was based on the political success of Frederick I Barbarossa (1152-90) and
Henry VI (1190-97). Local dialects were not used by the court poets who wrote in a language that could
be used and translated in all the German-speaking regions. It was the language of the aristocracy, the
Golden Age of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, which was characterized in the writings of the court poets
such as Der von Kürenberg, Wolfram von Eschenbach and others who created secular works based on
religious ideas and all written in verse, known as the chivalric literature of lyric poetry.
From the Codex Manesse, 14th Century, the
single most comprehensive source for the
texts of love songs in
Middle High German,
representing 140 poets,
several of whom were
famous rulers. The term
for these poets, Minnesänger, combines
the words for “romantic love” and “singer”,
reflecting the content of
the poetry, which was
adapted to German.
The 137 miniatures are
a series of “portraits”
depicting each poet included in the Codex.
Folio 63r shows Der von Kürenberg
Folio 124r shows Walther von der
Vogelweide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Manesse
Du bist mein, ich bin dein;
Des sollst du gewiß sein.
Du bis beschlossen
In meinem Herzen:
Verloren ist das Schlüsselein:
Du mußt ewig darinne sein.
From an unknown MHG poet, translated into standard
German
You are mine, I am yours
As you certainly should be
You are locked
In my heart
Lost is the key
You will remain there eternally
The scribe Jean Mielot (from Scribes and Illuminators, C. de Hamel, British Museum Press)
Poetic writings from around 1200 had begun to show that the authors were aware of writing for a wider
audience than the local community. The Austrian poet Walther von der Vogelweide wrote for the court
at Vienna and was one of those aware of shaping his verse for a wider audience in choosing ‘neutral’
rhymes (Wells, p. 117) versus the local dialect. French words were incorporated into the literary medieval German and distinguished it from the religious and administrative writing. French phrases were
used to describe polite chivalric manners.
Ein riviere ich dâ gesach,
durch den forês gieng ein bach
zetal über ein plâniure,
ich sleich ir nâch unz ich si vant die schoenen crêâtiure
bî dem fontâne saz diu klâre süeze von faitiure...
Translation: A rivulet I espied there, a rill ran through the forest and down
a glade, and, following along its course, I found her, that fair creature, sitting
by the stream, so radiant and sweet of feature! (Wells, p. 119)
Historical records report that many poets attended the Hoffest (a tournament) at Mainz
in 1184, which gave them the opportunity to
exchange cultural and linguistic observations.
French words were used to describe armor and
the equipment as well as fabrics used for the
contests, i.e. banier – pennant on a lance. The
literature and music of the era demonstrate the
exchange of words in describing the tournaments.
Ad for a modern
Hoffest, a tradition that has been
carried down
through the centuries.
Middle High German
The period 1050 to 1350 was characterized by a tremendous increase in population. The first stage of
the period saw the Church dominating the cultural life, the second stage was represented by an increase
in the influence of a secular class dominated by professional mounted warriors, the knights, and finally,
by the growth of towns and territorial princes. The German speaking population had risen from an estimated two million in 1050 to about fifteen million in 1350. The Germanic lands had grown in wealth
and power with the result being dramatic changes in the development of the cultural and economic aspects of life. A certain degree of stability and wealth were precursors for the development of literature
and language.
The production of literature was closely linked with wealthy patrons for a number of reasons. Everything had to be written out by hand and the cost of producing a work on expensive parchment was
beyond the writer’s financial means. Then there was the issue of keeping the poet or scribe fed and
clothed. Patrons wanted to establish their own credentials by having works in writing, not only as an
art form, but to establish their credibility and status.
The period 1170 to 1230 marks the real beginning of a secular vernacular literature by introducing the
Arthurian themes to German literature. Noble women were often the main literate persons at court
since they were afforded the time to learn to read. Women wanted reading material that would interest them. An environment of wealth, permanency and the time for leisure were the ideal conditions
for creating works of any length. The court was the center of peaceful rule and therefore provided the
right setting for people to work undisturbed. A different set of values was also being formulated in the
new court atmosphere. Along with developing trade routes, the growth of bilingual areas under foreign
rule, festivals and tournaments, literature, and education allowed people to come together and share
new knowledge. Gottfried von Strassburg’s Tristan, one of the most important works from the period
(c.1210), reflects a substantial French influence, and represents the new literary trend. Around 1170,
a version of the French poem the “Song of Roland” (Rolandslied) was translated into the Middle High
German by Konrad der Pfaffe, a German Catholic epic poet. It is a story about Charlemagne and the
Christian prince Roland.
Creation of a formal Germanic language was happening in many ways. One was the writing of the laws.
German law had traditionally been an oral practice of oaths and prescribed gestures. As the written and
Latin influences began taking over, there appeared a change in the customs and practice of law. Secular
courts came into existence along with towns and their administrative infrastructures. Legal texts reflect
the law in the form of the traditional oath as well as the new format, the document. In the early written
form, oaths were done according to the oral manner.
The Sachsenspiegel is the earliest native language law code in Germany. Composed between 1225
and 1235 by Eike von Repgow, it was a model of the political aims of Frederick II’s desire to spread his
influence. Amazingly, it retained much of its influence up to the twentieth century. The purpose was to
mediate between oral and written forms of law. For the first time, the traditional laws of everyday practice which previously were oral were committed to writing. The Sachsenspiegel, originating as a private
code, was eventually institutionalized as its use spread throughout the country and towns began requiring formalization of their legal codes. A legal education to become a judge did not evolve for another
century, so the work was written for the magistrates who did not have legal training, which means there
was not much written in specific technical vocabulary. There was a heavy emphasis on history and religion, as reflected in the prologue of the Sachenspiegel:
Prologue: May the love of the Holy Spirit strengthen my understanding so that I might set out the
law and the crimes of the Saxons according to the grace of God. I cannot do this on my own. Thus I ask
for the help of all good people who desire the law, to support (me): if they encounter any matter that
I have overlooked in my ignorance and which this book does not address, (may) they determine this
according to the law and their own understanding as they know it to be right. No one should let himself be distracted from the law – neither on account of favour or disfavour, nor of threat or bribe. God
Himself is law. This is why the law is dear to Him. That is why all those to whom the law has been entrusted by God should be at pains to judge in such a way that God’s anger and judgment pass over them
mercifully. (Young and Gloning, p. 142)
Following 1350 a catastrophic drop in population occurred as a consequence of the Black Death which
swept across Europe. Estimates put the death rate at one-quarter to one-third of the population of Europe. This had serious consequences for the lives of the remaining people.
Medicine was another field that contributed to the
development of written texts. Prior to the eleventh
century medicine was practiced by either local healers
or in monasteries. Then medical knowledge from the
Arab world began spreading to Europe via Salerno in
Southern Italy, the continent’s leading center for medical science in the Middle Ages. Beginning in the twelfth
century an increasing number of doctors were trained
in Bologna, Montpellier or Salerno. Although often the
clergy opposed the new trend, it was not long before
every king, prince and nobleman had a trained doctor
in his court. Around 1200 three important academic
medical texts appear in German translation, Lucidarius, Bartolomäus and Macer.
A physician visiting
the sick. German
engraving from
1682.
http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Hospital
The word hospital
is from the Latin
hospes, meaning
stranger, foreigner
or guest. Monasteries provided the first
forms of a hospital
in the European
countries.
Early New High German
By 1300 the number of prose documents began to increase and a standard literary form was taking
shape. The period was that of a rich vernacular literature, much of it imported from France and produced in the various local areas by court chanceries. As the land-based economy grew, German began
to be used for private documents of many kinds that had previously been written in Latin. Prosperity
and the accompanying growing needs were reflected in the development of secular courts and towns.
By the Early New High German period, the German speaking area had greatly increased in size. Charlemagne had centuries before been responsible for colonizing the neighboring areas with the result his
language was carried to vast new areas that came under his control by the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Trade flourished and towns grew rapidly. Society was changing as merchants and artisans were
taking a larger role in society and a new class structure was emerging. Expanding government and the
growth of towns, commerce, the rudiments of industry and new technology meant that there were new
needs for expression of activities. Language had to adapt to the needs. Written records illustrate the
development of various dialects, along with new usages of language to reflect specific needs. The period
is cited as beginning around 1350 with the documents of Charles IV at the Prague imperial chancery in
which the diphthongs [ei], [eu], and [au] became apparent. This is important because there now appears a “compromise between dialect and local chancery usage….” (Wells, p. 96) The move of the power
base to the east also meant that the main area for the study of language shifted east also. In Austria, the
imperial chancery (royal court) under Habsburg rule was established in 1438 with a regional standard
language using Austro-Bavarian features that was used for all imperial documents. A growing urban
population and the developing trade and commerce created new needs in recording transactions. Information about many trades and crafts such as alchemy, mining, the military arts, navigation, geography,
farming, husbandry, forestry, and sports began to be written down. The documents produced usually
came from the chanceries of local rulers. The phonology and morphology of the documents indicate
the gradual disappearance of local linguistic differences in favor of regional forms. The literary texts
of the twelfth-century manuscripts and administrative documents “show regional, ‘dialectal’ features,
and sometimes mixed, ‘contaminated’ forms, which may be variously explained by the influence of one
‘dialect’ on another, transcription by copyists from a different area, or even adaptation by the poet or
author for the needs of the addressee or patron.” (Wells, p.109) The texts follow the written traditions
of the regions in which they were produced.
Depiction of a physician dressed in preventive clothing while visiting patients
during the scourge. The large beak was
filled with pleasant smelling materials to
cover the horrible stench of death. The
Black Death, or bubonic plague, was carried by fleas.
The Black Death of 1348 and the many
ensuing plagues had major consequences
on all aspects of life as the population was
reduced by an estimated twenty-five to
thirty-three percent throughout Europe.
Society was severely weakened with the
economic consequences of the decline in
population. With the death of so many
people, all aspects of social, political and
economic development were effected.
www.themiddleages.net/images/black_death.jpg
Latin, the international trading language, influenced German words for many centuries in describing
a variety of activities. German words such as kaufen, Markt, Datum, pro, Summe reflect the Latin
origin. The Hanseatic League (hansa from Old High German meant ‘a group of warriors’), a German
trading union, used a mixture of Latin, English, Dutch, French and Italian in their transactions. The
Crusades opened the way for trade with the Middle East which added new words to the merchant vocabulary. Important fairs were held at Frankfurt as well as in Italy, making the cities important finance
and banking centers. Words to describe many of the activities in the commercial language came from
Arabic (tara – weight of goods) and Italian (incanto - how much).
The twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw the rise of a specialized vocabulary for Christian dogma in the
prose translations of scholarly works. The translations were of importance for the development of German Humanist prose as well as laying the foundation for a German intellectual and philosophical vocabulary. At Prague and Vienna, scholastic German prose was encouraged between the court, chancery
and university circles in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The Habsburg court at Vienna
promoted German prose. Latin continued as the universal language of European devotion, administration, trade, and intellectual enquiry. German speakers did not have political unity and local traditions
made the development of a standard German language difficult to accomplish. Latin had for centuries
served as the unifier. In the thirteenth century a broad range of vernacular prose texts and legal documents were being turned out in large quantities in the form of hand-written documents.
Another important socio-linguistic development was the expansion of German territories into the
Slavic East with the steady flow of emigrants between the mid twelfth to mid fourteenth centuries. The
consequence was that the Elbe area took over from the Rhine as the heartland of German linguistic
influences.
In 1347 Charles of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia, was elected German king. The center of power was moved to Bohemia, with Prague
as the imperial city. In 1356 the Golden Bull for the Holy Roman
Empire established the process of political evolution of the power of
the empire. Thereafter a majority of seven princes, the Kurfürsten,
who constituted an Electoral College, elected the “German king”
who then became the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1348 the first university in the Holy Roman Empire was founded in Prague, with the
language used, of course, being Latin.
The role of the Catholic Church remained dominant throughout
the Germanic areas as the guardian of Latin and the use of the local language for certain purposes. In the battle against heresy, the
church authorities created legislation forbidding the publication of
religious materials in German. In 1369 Charles IV banned books
written in German. In 1570 Germany published 70% of its books in
Latin. By 1730, the amount had dwindled to 30%.
The Reformation influenced the increase in the use of German as a
literary language. A major break with Latin occurred when Thomasius, a leading academic, taught his courses in German at the University of Leipzig in 1681.
Charles of Luxemburg
www.luxcentral.com/art/rulers/
Charles.IV.jpg
The Literary Revolution
Printing was the turning point in the development of the German language. Printing with moveable
characters can be traced to the Far East as early as 700 AD and along with the invention of paper, the
two arrived in Europe by way of the trade routes. About 1439 the system for printing was perfected
by a Mainz goldsmith named Johannes Gensfleisch, known as Gutenberg (after his family residence).
Gutenberg’s invention was movable type printing (“artificial writing”) and the capability to produce the
type in quantity, coupled with oil-based ink used with a wooden printing press similar to the olive and
wine screw presses.
In 1455 he produced the 42-line Latin Bible as well as
editions of the Latin primer by Donatus. Very importantly he used German in his printing from the very
beginning. Gutenberg’s inventions and innovations
resulted in the beginnings of mass communication
through the mechanical production of printing. By
1500 there were approximately 1,120 printing-houses
existing in about 260 European towns. Printing made
its contribution to language mainly because its users
realized that they required a clear, standard language
for the distribution of the numerous books to be
printed for communication among many people and
between regions.
Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468)
www.inkart.com/images/lineart/Gutenberg_2.gif
Renditions of the first press developed by Gutenberg.
www.designingwithtype.com/5/ref_typsetting.php
The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center’s
copy of the Gutenberg
Bible (c. 1450), one of only
48 complete copies in the
world. The Gutenberg
Bible was the first book
produced using movable
type.
See www.utexas.edu/.../archive/2002/gutenberg.html
The Impact of the Reformation
Martin Luther’s (1483 – 1546) translation of the bible led to the victory of East Middle German (Upper
Saxon) as the basis for the German modern standard language. Luther knew how to use language to
his benefit in making it effective, appealing and understandable to the common man. He followed the
Saxon chancery (legal) language as a model but he drew on many other sources for expression. Chambers states that it was “in his artistic handling of German that he was a true creator.” (p. 42) Luther
understood emotional nuances, the use of idioms, and directness of style. He combined the written
German with that spoken by common people and in so doing, created an understandable popular style
of the German language. One-third of all publications in Germany between 1518 and 1523 were written
by Luther. By 1525 more than 2,000 editions of Luther’s writings had appeared. Never before had anyone exercised so much influence through writing. (Lockwood, p. 112) Printed German texts were used
by Luther to discuss problems in a public manner, which ultimately contributed to the growing need for
literacy among the common people. It is understandable how his writing came to be the major literary
influence in his effort to reach out to all members of the community to spread his writings.
That in itself was revolutionary. Luther was on the road to the development of the New High German
standard language. Over the next one hundred fifty years a uniform standard language was developed
that required norms within the various printing companies. Widespread literacy and a long period in
the careful cultivation of writing were to be a consequence of the new technology. Spelling books and
primers were beginning to appear as people from many different walks of life were realizing the value
of studying language as well as being able to read. Many new types of literature began appearing, from
almanacs, to folk-remedy books, guides to animal care as well as religious writings for the common
man. Printing revolutionized education as efforts followed to establish schools to educate the common
people.
Martin Luther, by Lucas Cranach, 1529
Martin Luther: The freedom of Christian man must give us the courage to
resist our ruler, if it turns out that he
acts contrary to the spirit of God, and if
he offends human rights.
Kamenetsky, p. 23
Think of the revolutionary aspects of
such a quote for the time period and the
future.
Martin Luther at the Reichstag in Worms, 1521, before Charles V. Painting by Anton von
Werner (1871-1918)
Consolidation of political power
The political consolidation of power under the rule of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand in 1526, led to
an element of stability in the lives of the people. Towns achieved a degree of self-government along with
prosperity. The merchant Hanseatic League in the north controlled commerce in the Baltic and North
seas. The cities in the south of the empire were manufacturing centers,concentrating on the mining
industry of Bohemia, Hungary, the Tyrol and Saxony. The banking centers of Nuremberg and Augsburg
even supplied funds to the empire.
New universities were educating the new administrators and lawyers. The universities also became the
centers for the new humanist learning which, of course, affected literature as it was these people who
became the writers and leading cultural figures. Luther taught at the university of Wittenberg most of
his adult life. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555, written in German, declared that Catholics and Protestants would tolerate one another’s religion.
17th century German thaler coin
latin.bestmoodle.net/media/exduris.jpg
Sample of the German and Austrian “Thaler”, a silver coin used throughout Europe for over 400 years. The term Thaler is derived from the city of
Joachimsthal (Jachymov, Czech Republic) in Bohemia where the first such
coins were minted in 1518. The word “dollar” came to be used in English via
Spain.
There was heavy migration into the areas that had been depopulated by the epidemics. The migration
of the Jewish population resulted in the development of the Yiddish language which was influenced by
Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic. Yiddish has Middle High German roots in the Rhenish area from where
Jews were expelled in the 12th and 13th centuries. In addition to tracking their movement east to Poland, records reveal their preservation of an early form of spoken German.
By the mid-sixteenth century there was a definite swing to the use of the German language in an official
capacity. The very important innovation of writing government documents and correspondence in German was taking place. The first universal history was written in German by Sebastian Franck in 1531,
the Chronica, Zeytbuch und geschycht-bibel. Latin plays were translated into German. The Volksbuch
became one of the most popular styles for tales of adventure. Technical developments, revolutionary
ideas, economic and social changes along with scientific discoveries came together to create a powerful
linguistic movement in German.
The Thirty Years War (1618-48) precipitated by unresolved religious tensions proved to be a major disruption in the lives of the German people as well as in many other parts of Europe that were involved
in the war. Fought mostly on the land of the present day Germany, it started out as a political and
religious war between Catholics and Protestants and eventually involved most European countries from
Sweden in the north to Spain in the south. The war had a tremendous impact on every aspect of life,
including language. It was not surprising to find an emphasis on a military vocabulary. The war served
to weaken the native language and literature with the tremendous toll that was taken on the population.
The estimated decrease in population has been set at about one-third as a result of the conflicts and
the consequences of famine and disease. The urban bourgeoisie which had dominated intellectual life
was weakened, with the result that literature also suffered with the loss of its support. The Habsburg
Empire, an association of many principalities and lordships lost the resources it depended on as war
drained the economy. Following the war, the key to governing was holding the empire together and
creating a sense of unity and shared identity.
Eventually as the aristocracy consolidated power, along with their exposure to foreign customs, they
influenced the adoption of foreign words. In their race to build castles and palaces as well as theaters
and opera houses, a new technical language was required. In Vienna, Spanish court ceremonial took
over from the French influences. In opera and music, the influences came from Italy. While the war
left much destruction, it also created the adoption of many new aspects of life with the need to describe
them.
Examples of seventeenth century loan words from French: Attacke, Bataillon, Batterie, Charge, Kapitän, Leutnant, General, Regiment, Pistole, Cousin,
Mama, Papa, Onkel, compliment, excellent, gallant, Delikatesse, Kaffee, Limonade, Marmelade, Sauce
From Italian: Alarm, Kavallerie, Front, Armada, Brigade
This period of remarkable discoveries and innovations was to affect all of Europe: gunpowder and firearms, the discovery of the American continent, the expansion of the routes to Asia by sea, paper and the
printing press, a ‘rediscovery’ of the world of ancient Greece and Rome, and new discoveries about the
earth that caused a radical shift in thinking. Religious schisms were becoming more widespread. Life
for Europeans was changing in ways that were almost impossible to grasp for the majority of people.
New High German
In the second half of the seventeenth century, the new religious factors played a large role in the borrowing of words and ideas. As Protestants, Catholics, Huguenots and Calvinists fled religious persecution in their homelands, they brought their language to their new homelands. The partition in the years
between 1772 and 1795 of Poland among Prussia, Russia, and Austria was to have far reaching consequences into the twentieth century. Prussia assumed a new role, eventually becoming the foremost
military power of northern Europe.
The standard German language evolving after 1650 is termed New High German. As discussed, the
area’s major literary verse and prose had been written in Latin for several centuries. The new era was
the age in which French became a rival on the language front since it was French culture that dominated Western Europe beginning with the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715). Even in the German courts, the
German language was considered to be colloquial. The vernacular however, was gradually becoming
the language of administration including law and business. The early Urkundendeutsch later termed
Kanzleideutsch, was marked by regional characteristics as revealed in its phonetics and vocabulary.
Vocabulary books were introduced, such as Nicodemus Frischlin’s Nomenclator Trilinguis in 1614
for use in Austrian schools, which included ‘Austriacisms’. Such books were arranged by subject matter and usually began with words for God, then progressed to words for the human body, animals and
plants, on to human institutions and activities. The first spelling primers were for spelling guides for
chancery, printing-houses and schools, handbooks for teaching people to read, and the earliest grammars of German. Martin Opitz (1597 – 1639) was a passionate defender of the German language. Opitz
set the tradition for German poetry by taking the language of Luther and that of the imperial chancery
as his guides to develop rules for poetic composition which he published in his Buch von der deutschen
Poeterey in 1624. German grammar was initially acquired through learning Latin until German reformers such as Wolfgang Ratke (1571-1635), argued for instruction in the native language. Ratke
radically advocated that all children, boys and girls, should be taught to read and write German properly. In 1663 Schottel produced the first acknowledged work on grammar in Ausführliche Arbeit von
der teutschen Haubtsprache in which his concern was to develop a national literary language. Schottel
is credited as being the person to stand at the beginning of the scholarly and literary grammars until
the nineteenth century as grammar formed a symbolic and patriotic function. Most likely under Spanish influence in the seventeenth century, Er and Sie as the polite forms of addressing a person were
introduced, replacing the medieval ir. By the end of the century, Sie became the polite form, with er/sie
used for social inferiors and then in the eighteenth century the polite form became Ihr, a form of the
English “you”.
Language ‘societies’ (Sprachgesellschaften) came into being around 1617. Made up of nobility, poets
and scholars the societies attempted to cultivate the German language and literature as part of their
activities in an effort to nurture German culture. By the first half of the eighteenth century “Latin
functioned as the language of learning, French as the language of society and German as the language
of literature.” (Keller, p. 487) German was defended against Latin and French by the societies as they
worked to develop a German purity of language. Unified rules of spelling were created along with
grammatical terms. The scholars of the time regarded literary German as independent of any particular
dialect or region.
Three eighteenth century writers, Gottsched, Klopstock, and Adelung, reflected the major grammatical controversies: the identity and character of the written style, the status of dialect and speech, and
the contribution of literature to establishing written norms. Literacy was in reality the privilege of the
aristocrats and bourgeoisie, with probably about ten percent of the entire population able to read. By
the end of the 18th century, a foundation of the literary language had emerged in the works of poets
and writers with the result that German became an important literary language. German vocabulary,
composition and structure were becoming more sophisticated and defined. In 1746 Gottsched wrote
Deutsche Sprachkunst and in 1782 Adelung produced Umständliches Lehrgebäude der Deutschen
Sprache. These two authorities created the rules for spelling and grammatical standardization for literary German. To summarize, there were several influences working over a long period of time to develop
a standard German language:
•
•
•
•
•
•
The choice of particular words and grammatical structures by authors and printers,
Adaptations of text in many usages, i.e. religious works, literature, business, legal, and everyday
sources such as newspapers,
Growth of the printing industry,
Consistency in communication beyond one’s original boundaries,
The importance of certain texts (i.e. Bible) to maintain credibility and consistency,
The influence of grammarians, the style of composition and the status of a literary language and
artistic prose.
17th and 18th century movements in Europe
It is important to stop for a moment and look at the broader picture of Europe because the
literary developments in Germany and Austria were not isolated. The “Age of Enlightenment” was a movement in which philosophers were questioning the larger issues of rights for
all people. The American and French Revolutions questioned the role of the aristocracy and
the church. Galileo and Newton proposed revolutionary ideas in science. Other scientists
were looking at disease and developing new ways of treating it. Wars had ravaged Europe
and enterprising merchants were rebuilding the economies through trade. New continents
had been found by European explorers who returned with amazing riches.
Life in Europe was being shaken up in many dramatic ways.
It was during this time period
that the idea of public primary
schools for Austrian children
was strongly supported by Maria Theresa, the Habsburg empress. In 1774 she introduced
a system of public education,
the “General School Regulations” with which she created
an Austrian education system.
One of her main motivations
was to provide a source of educating potential future government employees.
Maria Theresa (1717-1780) Empress
of Austria
www.parbeszed.com/.../200707/maria_terezia.jpg
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)
Painting by J.K. Stieler, 1828
Goethe was Germany’s greatest writer and as such greatly influenced language use and text production.
He wrote not only great literary works, but technical works in fields such as anatomy, geology, mineralogy and mining, vulcanology, plant morphology, the theory of vision and color, the theory of literature
and poetry, theatre and theatre management, theology, and administration. His tremendous range
of work has made it possible for scholars to explore “the interaction between creative innovation and
established linguistic patterns.” (Young, p. 243) Goethe was influenced by the literature of the classical authors of antiquity as well as the emerging modern literatures of Europe. Even in today’s world,
his influence in philosophy continues to be held in high regard. His life spanned many changes, from a
predominantly rural society to the industrial revolution, from the last of the witch trials in Germany to
the appearance of railroads. He was part of the golden period of German literature and philosophy in
German universities in both humanist scholarship and scientific research.
By the early 1800’s the ideas and political vocabulary of the French Revolution (1789-1799) had become
familiar in Germany. The revolution, which called for equal political, social and economic rights for all
men, shattered the power of the aristocracy. A major result among the German population was the rise
of nationalism as well as Francophobia resulting from Napolean’s conquest of German lands. The political upheavals of 1830 and 1848 resulted in considerable political and social changes. An important
outcome of the revolutions was the temporary lifting of censorship which, unfortunately returned with
a vengeance in some areas. The temporary lifting of censorship opened the floodgates to the production
of pamphlets expressing new political ideas, which meant an explosion in the activity of printing. A
large number of new periodicals and pamphlets appeared which were dedicated to politics. The new
reading materials were not always published by established printing firms, which meant a more informal use of technique and language, and the use of a more simple syntax because the material had to
appeal to a wider audience that often had little education.
Innovations and improvements in communication broke down geographical barriers by bringing people
from many areas into contact with one another through the written word. The railway introduced another manner of expediting communication. People formerly insulated from others now began to have
regular contact with non-locals. Uses of language began changing more rapidly as people were exposed
to a great variety of languages and idioms. Political modifications gave people the right to change their
residence which resulted in the rapid growth of urban areas. A national consciousness developed, and
many language purists attempted to eliminate foreign words in an effort to promote a nationally conscious German way of thinking. To them, foreign words undermined German culture and were a sign of
decadence. Purity of language meant national loyalty. A movement known as the Deutsche Bewegung
arose among writers, journalists and educators who viewed the German language as the cultural bond
shaping and identifying the speakers. These feelings were not as strong in Austria and the Germanspeaking parts of Switzerland.
The end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century was a period of major interest in the study of the German language. A very novel approach was undertaken by the Grimm brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm who looked to the past, especially the medieval past, to track the development
of the German language. They did so by examining fairy tales, stories told over and over by succeeding
generations. Tales had been a form of entertainment as well as moral education for the illiterate for
centuries. The Grimms recognized the importance of the tales in understanding the development of
their own language as well.
Children and adults around the world enjoy listening to folk and fairy tales, and the efforts of the
Grimms have been a major contribution to this, so let’s look more closely at what they were doing and
the importance of their efforts.
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, from Kamenetsky frontispiece
Walt Disney has done much
to make the fairytale stories of
Jacob Grimm (1785 – 1863)
and his brother Wilhelm
(1786-1859) known around
the world. Disney modified
the tales significantly from the
original, making them ikons in
the modern era. Snow White,
Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty
are among the favorites of children and adults not only from
books but through Disney
animation.
The Grimm brothers recognized the importance of
collecting folklore from many
cultures, not just to collect stories for children, but to study
linguistics and the common
features of the stories as well
as how the stories developed
from culture to culture. They
brought together oral tradition
and the formalized study of
language through their work.
Jacob Grimm is called the father of Germanistik, which is the academic study of German language and
literature. His Deutsche Grammatik (1819-37) was the first major work on the history of the German
language. Grimm’s Deutsches Wörterbuch, the first volume of which appeared in 1852 and which has
only recently been completed by subsequent scholars in the field, is the standard work on German etymology.
Beginning in 1798, at the ages of thirteen and twelve, the brothers were educated in the traditional topics through the study of geography, history, the natural sciences and physical sciences, anthropology,
ethics, logic, philosophy, Latin, French, and Greek at the Lyceum in Kassel, from which they graduated
in 1802 and 1803. From there they went to the University of Marburg to study law. It was at Marburg
that they studied law with Friedrich Carl von Savigny who encouraged them to look beyond the basics of
law to find influences from the language, customs, and traditions of the past. The brothers had free use
of Savigny’s extensive personal library collection which contained an extensive collection of rare medieval manuscripts in which they found old German and French chronicles and epics. Savigny played a
major role in launching the brother’s prodigious and expansive research work.
From their days as students, Jacob and his brother Wilhelm worked closely with one another on the
many projects involving the study of the German language. Their education was a priority of their parents and when their father died, their mother assumed the responsibility of finding funding for her sons
education. The brothers had a love for language and its processes of development. Jacob, educated in
law, was the main scholar, while his younger brother pursued the poetic (Naturpoesie) aspects of language. Together they created a profound approach to the study of German through their linguistic and
philological work by initiating the creation of an extensive dictionary, along with their stand on democracy and freedom, their comparative folktale research, and their influence in encouraging a writing style
that would be more accessible to the public. The work they did essentially set modern standards by its
interdisciplinary and comparative approach to language, law, literature and history.
The work of the brothers is outstanding in many respects. In studying the German language, the brothers linked the oral traditions with the written form of recording the many fairy tales they collected.
Kamenetsky points out that they “were the first ones to introduce the fieldwork-research method” (p.
151). They developed a systematic approach through the use of questionnaires in which the method of
collecting and editing the tales remained loyal to the tradition of the tales. The Grimms made detailed
notes of their sources and comparisons of the versions they received. If a source related a tale in a personalized version, the tale was not used since it would mean the end of an inherited oral folk tradition
along with the historical and poetic value of the tale. The tales were to capture the unique spirit and
language of a culture as well as expressing universal elements of humanity in the balance of good and
evil forces in life.
The great collection and notes of the brothers, the
Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s- and Household
Tales) first appeared in 1812. Their work on folktales
brought together many elements of the past while creating innovations in the study of German. Technically
they were investigating parallel themes and characters
in folktales from around Germany as well as from other
countries. They considered the universal constant elements to be plots, themes, and characters with variations
on basic themes and situations that recurred in folk tales
from cultures around the world.
That which they termed “variants” demonstrated “that similar human conditions had existed everywhere.” (Kamenetsky, p. 103) Johann Gottfried Herder had done work on folk songs from a cultural
viewpoint and influenced the Grimms initially in helping them understand the importance of cultural
roots. Herder and the Grimms viewed their work on Nordic folk poetry as a “healing power for the life
of the nation but also their simultaneous quest for international folklore that lay beyond the sphere of
their patriotic interests. Sharing a deep faith in the unity of mankind and an unfailing optimism in a
possible resurrection of the naïve and wholesome spirit of the past, they expressed a belief in the peaceful coexistence of all men on earth.” (Kamenetsky, p. 59) Herder and the Grimms saw native folklore
reflecting the soul of a nation and as such, they saw the commonalities between the folktales of various
peoples. The Grimms approached the study of folktales as expressions of the historically developed
popular culture of a nation. For their generation each nation had its unique heritage and traditions
without any claims to superiority of one nation over another. Folktales were seen as expressing the
universal concerns of humanity and the struggle to deal with the issues. Later in the nineteenth century
more radical nationalists arose who made claims about the superiority of one national culture over others. The most extreme movement to claim national superiority was the National Socialists or Nazis in
the twentieth century and their “Aryan theory” which narrowly defined ethnic and racial identities and
claimed a hierarchy of various racial groups.
A few of the best known tales included in
Kinder- und Hausmärchen:
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Cinderella”
“Goldilocks”
“Hansel and Gretel”
“Little Red Riding Hood”
“The Bremen Town Musicians”
“The Frog Prince”
and one of their favorites, “Reynard the Fox”
In his scholarly work on language as well as in his teaching of law, Jacob saw a connection between
epic literature, ancient folk religion and folktales. The brothers evaluated the relationships from many
angles throughout their various works. The final work of Jacob and Wilhelm, the Deutsches Wörterbuch, contains many cross-references linking language to folklore.
Jacob Grimm was very influential in proposing a more readable style of writing be adapted to make
reading and writing more accessible to people at all levels of education in an effort to expand education
to the public.
Gothic script was developed in Europe during the 12th century in a variety of styles to be a
very compact and quickly-written script, primarily so that students and scholars of the newlyfounded universities could have affordable and portable books. There are many different kinds
of Gothic found in different times and places throughout the Late Middle Ages. (bygonearts.
com/corders.html)
Sample of the tight, dense Gothic script.
As contrasted with
the Roman script:
from www.leavesofgold.org/.../how_made/scripts.html
While in Göttingen (1829), the brothers took up the cause of democracy and freedom. Savigny taught
that law was a civil right and belonged to all. To Jacob and Wilhelm, this meant that the new constitution of Kassel was to grant basic human rights to the people of Hesse. When it was reversed in 1837,
the brothers were among the dissidents at the University who were fired from their teaching positions
for defending the constitution. The Grimms later returned to Kassel where they were welcomed as
heroes. There was a growing spirit of nationalism among Germans, influenced by the American and
French revolutions. The Grimms believed strongly in the Constitution and that they had a moral obligation to defend freedom of the citizens. Their concern for democracy and nationalism set them apart
from the form of nationalism that was to develop later in Germany.
The rising German Romantic movement served also to revive interest in the native language and German folk traditions and native roots. Several important movements were occurring simultaneously and
the Grimm brothers were the right people to pursue and develop the combinations in a scholarly and
insightful manner. The German National movement coincided with the German Romantic movement.
The Grimms saw literature as the way of expressing romantic nationalism by combining the spirit of the
past as expressed in myths, folktales and legends. Jacob was the first scholar to apply a comparative
theory approach to the Indo-European language by contrasting Roman, Italian, Slavic, Celtic, Greek,
Armenian, Hittite and Indic languages in analyzing German and Nordic myths and folktales. He used a
similar approach in analyzing grammar by historical and comparative means in an effort to document
linguistic evidence. Both Jacob and Wilhelm looked for cross-cultural variations in searching for the
roots of German folktales. Jacob felt that folklore provided an untapped treasure of research materials
that would give answers to questions of etymology and cultural development that could be applied to
cultures worldwide. The brothers corresponded with writers in many countries, encouraging them to
study their own folktales, and they were very active in translating the legends of other countries. Their
goal in pursuing the tales and legends of many countries was to find relationships in language and literature between cultures.
The king of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, was impressed by the work of the Grimm brothers and in
1840 asked them to move to Berlin and work on the first German etymological dictionary. In Berlin,
Jacob continued his work on the German language, history, and law, using the term Germanistik (Germanistics) to define his work. It was important for him to understand the relationship of languages one
to another as well as cultural similarities. He saw linguistics and Germanistics as inexact sciences. “In
defining the origins and historical usage of words, the Grimms would resort to literature and folklore
studies while frequently quoting German literature of several centuries, from Martin Luther to Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe. Also, they would refer to German proverbs, sayings, popular rhymes, medieval
jests, old Germanic legal documents, epics, chapbooks, and romance.” (Kamenetsky, p. 31)
Twentieth century developments
While standard pronunciation had never been as urgent a concern as had the standardization of spelling, by the late 19th century it was felt that there should be some basic rules for pronunciation for
public speech, the schools, and, of course the stage. In 1898 Theodor Siebs produced the first guide to
standard stage pronunciation, the Deutsche Bühnenaussprache (German Stage Pronunciation). The
book was also enthusiastically received by school administrators and others who appreciated a standard pronunciation for standard German. Both wanted spelling and pronunciation closely linked. By
1969, the nineteenth edition of the guide, the “gemäßigte Hochlautung,” included Austrian and Swiss
regional variants of the standard.
The industrial revolution proved to be very important in the development of language. Innovations
in industrialization brought about changes in labor, production, and in relationships between people.
New ideas as well as procedures had to be expressed and words had to be created to express the activities. The expansion in mass communication in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries spurred development in printing. Issues brought about by industrialization created concerns in many arenas that
had to be addressed: social, political, economic, manufacturing, and legal, to name a few. The development of scientific findings and studies meant language had to keep up with the progress. New words
had to be designed to express new ideas and events. German words are gender specific, so the question
arose as to what the basis was to be for determining the male, female, or neuter aspects of words. The
German speaking countries of Austria, Germany and Switzerland came up with different answers.
Keller points out the vocabulary of the present standard German was gradually shaped during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and included word formation and composition. Spelling and pronunciation were codified at conferences in 1901 and 1908 in an effort to teach reading and writing in
schools since there had been no standard pronunciation or othography up to that time. The Bavarian,
Austrian, Prussian, and German government offices as well as some printing houses had different systems in place. Dialects are not attached to political boundaries since they are influenced by the speech
of the neighboring communities. Wells states that “unlike colloquial English, German has markedly
regional features in vocabulary, intonation, and phonology, and to a lesser extent in syntax and morphology: in fact, German has several regional colloquial languages (Umgangssprachen) associated
especially with important towns – in the nineteenth century notably with Berlin and Vienna, the two
main German-speaking cultural centres” (p. 366). By the early twentieth century, the political unification of Germany along with its influence over Austria and parts of Switzerland resulted in the codification of spelling and pronunciation of the German language. While the written language was standardized, local areas retained their dialects. Following are a few lexical differences Keller identifies between
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (p. 600).
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
English
Abendessen, Abendbrot
Abitur, Reifeprüfung
Andernfalls, sonst
Anlieger (Grundstücknachbar)
Anschrift
anstiften
Apfelsine, Orange (S)
Aprikose
Arbeitsschicht
derzeit
Nachtmahl
Matura
ansonst(en)
Anrainer
Nachtessen
Maturität
ansonst
Anstößer
dinner
diploma
otherwise
next to
Adresse
anzetteln
Orange
Marille
Turnus
zur Zeit
Adresse
anzetteln
Orange
Aprikose
Turnus
zur Zeit
address
provoke
orange
apricot
work shift
now
www2.ku.edu/.../Dialect_Regions_Germany.shtml
Ideology and Vocabulary
“Ideology always has an impact on the use of the vocabulary”. (Keller, p. 602) With the advent of
printing, a new world was opened to the possibilities of spreading ideas. Martin Luther recognized the
importance of printing as a means of getting his ideas spread to the greatest number of people.
The Reformation provided some early examples of propaganda on both sides. The illustration portrays the idea
Luther wanted to impress upon the people.
“The Pope is Antichrist” - 1521 propaganda print by Lucas
Cranach the Elder, commissioned by Martin Luther.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda
For an illiterate population, illustrations have been an
excellent method by which to convey ideas.
The political movements in eighteenth-century Europe recognized printing brochures as an important
tool in disseminating particular viewpoints. Since its early beginnings, propaganda has been a technique used to project ideas to a large segment of the population in a very persuasive manner. Propaganda is defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary as “any systematic, widespread dissemination
or promotion of particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc. to further one’s own cause or to damage an
opposing one.” Some key components of propaganda are appealing to authority, appealing to fear,
constant repetition, presenting only two choices (either/or), appealing to prejudices, generalizations
of events, demonizing the enemy, disinformation, “flag waving”, half-truths, intentional vagueness and
oversimplification, name-calling, stereotyping, etc.
National Socialism in Germany under Adolf Hitler’s political persuasion in the 1930’s is an excellent
example of the highly developed use of propaganda in the twentieth century. A National Socialist
language style was the key to Hitler developing a system of governing and has been studied closely to
understand its components. Keller lists three aspects of the impact of National Socialism on the German vocabulary. First is the formation of new words, second the use of key words to propagate the Nazi
ideology, and third, deliberate semantic shifts in either a positive or negative direction. The militaristic,
emotional appeal emphasized action over thought. Whether the words used were describing military,
religious, medical, sports, or technical terms, the language was styled to convey the Nazi intent of expressing the ideology. The substitution of words, what is said versus what is meant, or euphemisms, in
an effort to create a special manner of communication, was a major characteristic of Hitler’s National
Socialist expressions. While there was no coherent linguistic policy, the language used created an arbitrary sterile expression.
An example of the Nazi turn on nationalism was in their use of the folktales from the works of the
Grimm brothers. The Nazi’s “used a highly selective approach to the Kinder- und Hausmärchen, both
in discussion guides and new editions of the work.” (Kamenetsky, p. 242) The Nazis emphasized the
Nordic and German character of the tales in a manner that made the Grimms appear to be fanatic German nationalists with an ethnocentric viewpoint in terms of a master race. The twist was that the strongest and the best always won in the case of the German folktale characters. For the Third Reich, it was
imperative that the German youth see the characters as models of the heroic fighting spirit. The tales
were manipulated to serve the purposes of the Nazi propaganda as a way of life and thought in a selective and distorted manner to create a narrow racial and ethnocentric ideology. This was so very contrary
to the objectives of the Grimm brothers.
The key terminology of Nazi ideology formed a system which had three main effects. First, the rigidity
of expression meant words lost variation and became slogans directed at irrational forces in an effort to
unleash an emotional reaction. Second, key terms were continually hammered into new uses limiting
the means of expression. Third, over-defined words lost the capacity to be interchanged with synonyms.
Nazi communication blended “history, culture, society and religion under the banner of biology.”
(Young, p. 302) Hitler’s style of communication had to be understood by as well as appeal to the largest
number of people and very importantly, it was to impress the reader or listener as being scientifically or
rationally motivated. The tone of the words used was meant to create the feeling of being objective, and
along with repetition and the use of nouns over verbs a sense of righteousness was conveyed. By the
manner in which Hitler used German a closed and static language was created as a verbal instrument of
power in the effort to control the thought process of the people he governed. In a period of economic
instability, Hitler appealed to the emotions of citizens by blaming hardships on a certain group of people and used the newly developed rhetoric, that of propaganda, to express his ideology. Under Hitler a
very sophisticated Ministry of Propaganda was developed.
Pictures, not only words, are a powerful source of propaganda. What are the thoughts and impressions
that come to your mind when you look at the pictures of these two men? From the list of the components of propaganda given above, which features do these pictures use?
Antisemitic book for children compares the “German” and
the “Jew.” CL:Ein Bilderbuch fuer Gross und Klein (Nuremberg.
1936)
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=gvKVLcMVIuG&b=394901
What feelings or impressions come to mind when you
look at these posters?
This poster appeals to the idea of the role of the mother in
the family: “Women! Save the German family. Vote for
Hitler.
poster-posters.com/.../german/frauen.html
Propaganda was not only used by the Germans, but by every country involved in the war.
Which countries are the posters from?
How do you identify the countries?
What ideas or impressions is it conveying?
What are the similarities between the two
posters?
Following the end of World War II in 1945 an epoch came to an end in many ways. The moral bankruptcy of the National Socialists and the physical devastation of the war had major consequences politically, socially and linguistically. For the language in Germany and Austria, “dialectal, stylistic, semantic, and lexical changes resulted….” (Wells, p. 347) The conclusion of the war meant that large areas
of German speaking populations were lost or often resettled. The loss of millions of people who died
during the war, the involuntary (or in some instances voluntary) movement and resettlement of several
million people from their homelands had major consequences.
The division of Germany into an east and a west sector resulted in what developed into significant differences in vocabulary and idiom in the written and spoken language. The formation of two distinct
German states, the Federal Republic of West Germany and the German Democratic Republic in the east
under Russian domination, lasted for four decades.
http://www.ladlass.com/intel/archives/2004_10.html
The map above shows the division into
east and west sectors. The map to the
right, shows how the west sector was
further divided between the allied powers
(American, British and French).
Can you imagine what it
would be like if you were
unable to regularly visit your
family on the other side of
a wall for 40 years and very
importantly, each of you
lived a very different style of
life based on political ideology? On one side a family
could move about and select
their jobs, while the other
family was assigned jobs and
did not have the freedom
to freely travel. Education
differed between the two
systems. Political ideologies
opposed one another. One
side was allowed to express
their ideas, while the other
side had to be very guarded
in what they said. One side
was able to buy what they
wanted from a large selection
of goods, while the other side
had a very limited selection
from which to choose.
Photo of the Berlin Wall dividing east and west Germany
http://newcentrist.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/berlin-wall.jpg
Forty years later you come together. What would it be like to see one another again? How would you react to the systems and experiences of the
other?
The two distinct types of governments that had developed in the east and the west meant a diverse emphasis on all aspects of life for the people living under each system. On the one side, the strong American influence in western Germany, especially in the number of American military housed in Germany
following the war, introduced many American language and cultural characteristics and terminology
into West German society. In the East, governed by a communist regime, the influences were from
the U.S.S.R. The slang of the occupying military of both sides would have influenced dialogue on the
respective sides represented by Americans/British and Russians.
Military and bureaucratic terms of governing in the developing age of technology following the war
introduced many new words, not only to German but to many languages. Eighteenth century war was
fought on horseback. World War II was fought with tanks and airplanes. War was initially fought on
the ground. World War I and then WW II introduced air warfare on a large scale. You can imagine the
words: horse/stable vs. airplane/hangar. Weapons were swords and canons versus guns and tanks and
the list goes on.
The reunification of Germany in 1990 once
again brought about a major change in the lives
of the German people and impacted the rest of
Europe, and for that matter, the world. Life for
the East Germans was dramatically changed
as they had to learn a new social and economic
system almost overnight, that which their relatives in the west had been learning for forty
years.
The transformation of the language for Germans on either side of the wall developed a
complexity not only because of the separation.
Words that meant one thing in the lifetime of
ones parents mean another for the next generation.
oz.deichman.net/2007/11/fall-of-wall.html
The use of language, words and terms, constantly undergoes evaluation based on the perceptions of the listeners. Whether it is spoken
or written, language is open to interpretation
by the listener, speaker and reader. An important consideration to keep in mind is that the
German speaking countries are in the heart of
Europe, a fact in itself that will have an impact
on what happens to the German language in
the future. Communication is changing so
rapidly with new technology that makes the
world more closely connected. With the constant developments in technology, it is difficult
to know what communication will be like in the
future and what that means for its influence on
language development.
Summary
The German language has evolved over many millennia and the influences developing the language
have been countless. Just as in everything, change is the constant factor. Language is not static. People
on the move had new experiences, along with political upheaval and conflict, disease, weather, terrain,
social interaction, livelihood, procuring food – were some of the experiences for which words had to
be developed. You have read of many of the influences that formed the German language. As a need
arises, words are developed to express the need.
Many of the revolutionary developments took place with the invention of the printing press. Grammar
and continuity of the language had to develop as communication expanded to an unforeseen extent.
The future holds remarkable potential for changes in all languages as people come into contact. There
are no longer geographical barriers to communication. People are sharing more and more in experiences and interaction with one another. Can you imagine where and how the contacts between people
around the world will take language in the future?
Vocabulary
accidence
B.C. and B.C.E.
bilingual
chancery
colloquial language
dialect
diphthong
epic
etymology
ideogram
idioms
lexicon
morphology
orthography
philologist
phonetic
plosive
prose
secular
syntax
vernacular
Activities
1.
Compare the map illustrating the spread of Indo-European languages and the chart showing the
chronological development of the languages. Give an explanation about the development of the
German language by comparing the two.
2.
Languages start from a common origin, in the case of German, it is Indo-European. Find other IndoEuropean languages and identify words in those languages that are similar to German words.
Look at the word “Völkerwanderungszeit” and break it down into syllables. By doing so, can you
pick out commonalities with some English words?
3.
Explain the term “loanwords”. Make a list of words in English that would be considered loanwords.
4.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the development of many new technologies. Make a list of
some technological fields developed in the 19th and 20th centuries (i.e. electricity) and another list of
words associated with the field. Try to imagine how a word developed to express what was needed.
5.
You have read how the Nazi regime used language to convince people of the rightness of the Nazi ideol
ogy. List some key components and give some examples of their use either from Nazi literature or some
other political ideology. Can you relate the use of Nazi propaganda to any current manifestations of
propaganda?
6.
War over the centuries has caused the loss and movement of populations as it continues to do today.
The consequences are far reaching into many aspects of life, not only language. Currently we are experiencing in the world catastrophes of war. Make a list of changes war creates and how it impacts the
lives of the survivors. Discuss how war can impact language.
7.
There are numerous events that have affected the development of the German language. Make a list of
the influences you have read about in the above history and give a brief explanation of the effects on the
language.
8.
Make a prediction of what you think language will be like in the future. Will there be one common
language? Will countries maintain their respective languages? Or will there be some variation of the
two prospects and what could that be like?
Selected Bibliography
Chambers, W. Walker and Wilkie, John R. A Short History of the German Language. London: Methuen &
Co. Ltd., 1970.
Keller, Rudolf E. The German Language. London: Faber and Faber, 1978.
Kamenetsky, Christa. The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics: Folktales and the Quest for Meaning. Athens:
Ohio University Press, 1992.
Ker, William Paton. Jacob Grimm; an address delivered at the annual meeting of the Philological society on
Friday, May 7, 1915. London: Oxford University Press, 1915.
Lockwood, W. B. An Informal History of the German Language. Cambridge: W. Heffer and Sons, 1965.
Tatar, Maria. The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.
Waterman, John T. A History of the German Language. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966.
Wells, C. J. German: A Linguistic History to 1945. Clarendon: Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985.
Young, Christopher and Thomas Gloning. A History of the German Language through Texts. London; New
York: Routledge, 2004.
Some Internet resources:
http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/browse.pl?id=201255
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goebbels/
www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/europe/
www.merriam-webster.com/.../nytmaps.pl?germany