Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of the monumental ''

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, i ...

; together, they were the literary duo known as the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

Life and books

Jacob Grimm was born 4 January 1785, in Hanau in

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the L ...

. His father, Philipp Grimm, was a lawyer who died while Jacob was a child, and his mother Dorothea was left with a very small income. Her sister was lady of the chamber to the Landgravine of Hesse, and she helped to support and educate the family. Jacob was sent to the public school at Kassel in 1798 with his younger brother Wilhelm. In 1802, he went to the University of Marburg where he studied law, a profession for which he had been intended by his father. His brother joined him at Marburg a year later, having just recovered from a severe illness, and likewise began the study of law.

Meeting von Savigny

Jacob Grimm became inspired by the lectures of Friedrich Carl von Savigny, a noted expert of

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

; Wilhelm Grimm, in the preface to the ''Deutsche Grammatik'' (German Grammar), credits Savigny with giving the brothers an awareness of science. Savigny's lectures also awakened in Jacob a love for

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

investigation, which underlies all his work. It was in Savigny's library that Grimm first saw Bodmer's edition of the

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...

minnesingers and other early texts, which gave him a desire to study their language. In the beginning of 1805, he was invited by Savigny to Paris, to help him in his literary work. There Grimm strengthened his taste for the literature of the Middle Ages. Towards the close of the year, he returned to Kassel, where his mother and brother had settled after Wilhelm finished his studies. The following year, Jacob obtained a position in the war office with a small salary of 100 thalers. He complained that he had to exchange his stylish Paris suit for a stiff uniform and pigtail, but the role gave him spare time for the pursuit of his studies.

Librarianship

In 1808, soon after the death of his mother, he was appointed superintendent of the private library of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, into which

had been incorporated by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

. Grimm was appointed an auditor to the state council, while retaining his superintendent post. His salary rose to 4000 francs and his official duties were nominal. In 1813, after the expulsion of Bonaparte and the reinstatement of an elector, Grimm was appointed Secretary of Legation accompanying the Hessian minister to the headquarters of the allied army. In 1814, he was sent to Paris to demand restitution of books taken by the French, and he attended the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

as Secretary of Legation in 1814–1815. Upon his return from Vienna, he was sent to Paris again to secure book restitutions. Meanwhile, Wilhelm had obtained a job at the Kassel library, and Jacob was made second librarian under Volkel in 1816. Upon the death of Volkel in 1828, the brothers both expected promotion, and they were dissatisfied when the role of first librarian was given to Rommel, the keeper of the archives. Consequently, they moved the following year to the University of Göttingen, where Jacob was appointed professor and librarian, and Wilhelm under-librarian. Jacob Grimm lectured on legal antiquities, historical grammar, literary history, and diplomatics, explained Old German poems, and commented on the '' Germania'' of Tacitus.

Later work

Elisabet Ney - Bust of Jacob Grimm (1856-58)

Grimm joined other academics, known as the Göttingen Seven, who signed a protest against the King of Hanover's abrogation of the liberal constitution which had been established some years before. As a result, he was dismissed from his professorship and banished from the Kingdom of Hanover in 1837. He returned to Kassel with his brother, who had also signed the protest. They remained there until 1840, when they accepted King Frederick William IV's invitation to move to the University of Berlin, where they both received professorships and were elected members of the Academy of Sciences. Grimm was not under any obligation to lecture, and seldom did so; he spent his time working with his brother on their dictionary project. During their time in Kassel, he regularly attended the meetings of the academy and read papers on varied subjects, including Karl Konrad Friedrich Wilhelm Lachmann, Friedrich Schiller, old age, and the origin of language. He described his impressions of Italian and Scandinavian travel, interspersing more general observations with linguistic details. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1857. Grimm died in Berlin at the age of 78, working until the very end of his life. He describes his own work at the end of his autobiography:

Nearly all my labours have been devoted, either directly or indirectly, to the investigation of our earlier language, poetry and laws. These studies may have appeared to many, and may still appear, useless; to me they have always seemed a noble and earnest task, definitely and inseparably connected with our common fatherland, and calculated to foster the love of it. My principle has always been in these investigations to under-value nothing, but to utilize the small for the illustration of the great, the popular tradition for the elucidation of the written monuments.

Linguistic work

''History of the German Language''

Grimm's ''Geschichte der deutschen Sprache'' (History of the German Language) explores German history hidden in the words of the German language and is the oldest linguistic history of the Teutonic tribes. He collected scattered words and allusions from classical literature and tried to determine the relationship between the German language and those of the Getae, Thracians, Scythians, and other nations whose languages were known only through Greek and Latin authors. Grimm's results were later greatly modified by a wider range of available comparison and improved methods of investigation. Many questions that he raised remain obscure due to the lack of surviving records of the languages, but his book's influence was profound.

''German Grammar''

Grimm's famous ''Deutsche Grammatik'' (German Grammar) was the outcome of his purely philological work. He drew on the work of past generations, from the humanists onwards, consulting an enormous collection of materials in the form of text editions, dictionaries, and grammars, mostly uncritical and unreliable. Some work had been done in the way of comparison and determination of general laws, and the concept of a comparative Germanic grammar had been grasped by the Englishman George Hickes by the beginning of the 18th century, in his ''Thesaurus''. Ten Kate in the Netherlands had made valuable contributions to the history and comparison of Germanic languages. Grimm himself did not initially intend to include all the languages in his ''Grammar'', but he soon found that

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...

postulated

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, and that the later stages of German could not be understood without the help of other West Germanic varieties including English, and that the literature of Scandinavia could not be ignored. The first edition of the first part of the ''Grammar'', which appeared in 1819, treated the inflections of all these languages, and included a general introduction in which he vindicated the importance of a historical study of the German language against the quasi-philosophical methods then in vogue. In 1822 the book appeared in a second edition (really a new work, for, as Grimm himself says in the preface, he had to "mow the first crop down to the ground"). The considerable gap between the two stages of Grimm's development of these editions is shown by the fact that the second volume addresses phonology in 600 pages – more than half the volume. Grimm had concluded that all philology must be based on rigorous adherence to the laws of sound change, and he subsequently never deviated from this principle. This gave to all his investigations a consistency and force of conviction that had been lacking in the study of philology before his day. His advances have been attributed mainly to the influence of his contemporary Rasmus Christian Rask. Rask was two years younger than Grimm, but the Icelandic paradigms in Grimm's first editions are based entirely on Rask's grammar; in his second edition, he relied almost entirely on Rask for Old English. His debt to Rask is shown by comparing his treatment of

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

in the two editions. For example, in the first edition he declines ''dæg, dæges'', plural ''dægas'', without having observed the law of vowel-change pointed out by Rask. (The correct plural is ''dagas.'') The appearance of Rask's Old English grammar was probably the primary impetus for Grimm to recast his work from the beginning. Rask was also the first to clearly formulate the laws of sound-correspondence in the different languages, especially in the vowels (previously ignored by etymologists). The ''Grammar'' was continued in three volumes, treating principally derivation, composition and

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituenc ...

, the last of which was unfinished. Grimm then began a third edition, of which only one part, comprising the vowels, appeared in 1840, his time being afterwards taken up mainly by the dictionary. The ''Grammar'' is noted for its comprehensiveness, method and fullness of detail, with all his points illustrated by an almost exhaustive mass of material, and it has served as a model for all succeeding investigators. Diez's grammar of the

Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...

s is founded entirely on Grimm's methods, which have had a profound influence on the wider study of the

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, D ...

in general.

Grimm's law

Jacob is recognized for enunciating Grimm's law, the Germanic Sound Shift, which was first observed by the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask. Grimm's law, also known as the "Rask-Grimm Rule" or the First Germanic Sound Shift, was the first law in linguistics concerning a non-trivial sound change. It was a turning point in the development of linguistics, allowing the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historic linguistic research. It concerns the correspondence of consonants between the ancestral

Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

and its Germanic descendants,

Low Saxon Low Saxon, also known as West Low German ( nds, Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; nl, Nedersaksisch) are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of ...

and High German, and was first fully stated by Grimm in the second edition of the first part of his ''Grammar''. The correspondence of single consonants had been more or less clearly recognized by several of his predecessors, including Friedrich von Schlegel, Rasmus Christian Rask and Johan Ihre, the last having established a considerable number of ''literarum permutationes'', such as b for f, with the examples ''bœra'' = ''ferre'' ("to bear"), ''befwer'' = ''fibra'' ("fiber"). Rask, in his essay on the origin of the

Icelandic language Icelandic (; is, íslenska, link=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Due to being a West Scandinavian language, it is most closely re ...

, gave the same comparisons, with a few additions and corrections, and even the same examples in most cases. As Grimm in the preface to his first edition expressly mentioned Rask's essay, there is every probability that it inspired his own investigations. But there is a wide difference between the isolated permutations described by his predecessors and his own comprehensive generalizations. The extension of the law to High German in any case is entirely Grimm's work. The idea that Grimm wished to deprive Rask of his claims to priority is based on the fact that he does not expressly mention Rask's results in his second edition, but it was always his plan to refrain from all controversy or reference to the works of others. In his first edition, he calls attention to Rask's essay, and praises it ungrudgingly. Nevertheless, a certain bitterness of feeling afterwards sprang up between Grimm and Rask, after Rask refused to consider the value of Grimm's views when they clashed with his own.

''German Dictionary''

Grimm's monumental dictionary of the

German Language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

, the ''

Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...

is underway to update the ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' to modern academic standards. Volumes A–F were planned for completion in 2012 by the Language Research Centre at the

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...

and the University of Göttingen.

Literary work

The first work Jacob Grimm published, ''Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang'' (1811), was of a purely literary character. Yet even in this essay Grimm showed that '' Minnesang'' and '' Meistergesang'' were really one form of poetry, of which they merely represented different stages of development, and also announced his important discovery of the invariable division of the ''Lied'' into three strophic parts. Grimm's text-editions were mostly prepared in conjunction with his brother. In 1812 they published the two ancient fragments of the '' Hildebrandslied'' and the '' Weißenbrunner Gebet'', Jacob having discovered what until then had never been suspected — namely the

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

in these poems. However, Jacob had little taste for text editing, and, as he himself confessed, working on a critical text gave him little pleasure. He therefore left this department to others, especially Lachmann, who soon turned his brilliant critical genius, trained in the severe school of classical philology, to Old and

poetry and metre. Both Brothers were attracted from the beginning by all national poetry, whether in the form of epics, ballads or popular tales. They published In 1816–1818 a collection of legends culled from diverse sources and published the two-volume ''Deutsche Sagen'' (German Legends). At the same time they collected all the folktales they could find, partly from the mouths of the people, partly from manuscripts and books, and published in 1812–1815 the first edition of those '' Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' (Children's and Household Tales), which has carried the name of the brothers Grimm into every household of the western world. The closely related subject of the satirical beast epic of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

also held great charm for Jacob Grimm, and he published an edition of the ''Reinhart Fuchs'' in 1834. His first contribution to mythology was the first volume of an edition of the Eddaic songs, undertaken jointly with his brother, and was published in 1815. However, this work was not followed by any others on the subject. The first edition of his '' Deutsche Mythologie'' (German Mythology) appeared in 1835. This work covered the whole range of the subject, attempting to trace the mythology and superstitions of the old

Teutons The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with th ...

back to the very dawn of direct evidence, and following their evolution to modern-day popular traditions, tales, and expressions.

Legal scholarship

Grimm's work as a jurist was influential for the development of the history of law, particularly in Northern Europe. His essay ''Von der Poesie im Recht'' (''Poetry in Law'', 1816) developed a far-reaching, suprapositivist Romantic conception of law. The ''Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer'' (''German Legal Antiquities'', 1828) was a comprehensive compilation of sources of law from all Germanic languages, whose structure allowed an initial understanding of older German legal traditions not influenced by Roman law. Grimm's '' Weisthümer'' (4 vol., 1840–63), a compilation of partially oral legal traditions from rural Germany, allows research of the development of written law in Northern Europe.

Politics

Jacob Grimm's work tied in strongly with his views on Germany and its culture. His work on both fairy tales and philology dealt with the country's origins. He wished for a united Germany, and, like his brother, supported the Liberal movement for a constitutional monarchy and civil liberties, as demonstrated by their involvement in the Göttingen Seven protest. In the

German revolution of 1848 German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, he was elected to the Frankfurt National Parliament. The people of Germany had demanded a constitution, so the Parliament, formed of elected members from various German states, met to form one. Grimm was selected for the office largely because of his part in the University of Göttingen's refusal to swear to the king of Hanover. In Frankfurt he made some speeches and was adamant that the Danish-ruled but German-speaking duchy of Holstein be under German control. Grimm soon became disillusioned with the National Assembly and asked to be released from his duties to return to his studies. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1863.

Death

Jacob Grimm died on 20 September 1863, in Berlin, Germany from natural causes, at the age of 78.

Works

The following is a complete list of Grimm's separately published works. Those he published with his brother are marked with a star (*). For a list of his essays in periodicals, etc., see vol. V of his ''Kleinere Schriften'', from which the present list is taken. His life is best studied in his own ''Selbstbiographie'', in vol. I of the ''Kleinere Schriften''. There is also a brief memoir by Karl Goedeke in ''Göttinger Professoren'' (Gotha (Perthes), 1872). *''Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang'' (Göttingen, 1811) **'' Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' (Berlin, 1812–1815) (many editions) **''Das Lied von Hildebrand und des Weissenbrunner Gebet'' (Kassel, 1812) *''Altdeutsche Wälder'' (Kassel, Frankfurt, 1813–1816, 3 vols.) **''Der arme Heinrich von Hartmann von der Aue'' (Berlin, 1815) *''Irmenstrasse und Irmensäule'' (Vienna, 1815) **''Die Lieder der alten Edda'' (Berlin, 1815) *''Silva de romances viejos'' (Vienna, 1815) **''Deutsche Sagen'' (Berlin, 1816–1818, 2nd ed., Berlin, 1865–1866) *''Deutsche Grammatik'' (Göttingen, 1819, 2nd ed., Göttingen, 1822–1840) (reprinted 1870 by Wilhelm Scherer, Berlin) *''Wuk Stephanowitsch' Kleine Serbische Grammatik, verdeutscht mit einer Vorrede'' (Leipzig and Berlin, 1824) Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic – Serbian Grammar *''Zur Recension der deutschen Grammatik'' (Kassel, 1826) **''Irische Elfenmärchen, aus dem Englischen'' (Leipzig, 1826) *''Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer'' (Göttingen, 1828, 2nd ed., 1854) *''Hymnorum veteris ecclesiae XXVI. interpretatio theodisca'' (Göttingen, 1830) *''Reinhart Fuchs'' (Berlin, 1834) *'' Deutsche Mythologie'' (Göttingen, 1835, 3rd ed., 1854, 2 vols.) *''Taciti Germania edidit'' (Göttingen, 1835) *''Über meine Entlassung'' (Basel, 1838) *(together with Schmeller) ''Lateinische Gedichte des X. und XI. Jahrhunderts'' (Göttingen, 1838) *''Sendschreiben an Karl Lachmann über Reinhart Fuchs'' (Berlin, 1840) *''Weistümer, Th. i.'' (Göttingen, 1840) (continued, partly by others, in 5 parts, 1840–1869) *''Andreas und Elene'' (Kassel, 1840) *''Frau Aventure'' (Berlin, 1842) *''Geschichte der deutschen Sprache'' (Leipzig, 1848, 3rd ed., 1868, 2 vols.) *''Des Wort des Besitzes'' (Berlin, 1850) **''Deutsches Wörterbuch'', Bd. i. (Leipzig, 1854) *''Rede auf Wilhelm Grimm und Rede über das Alter'' (Berlin, 1868, 3rd ad., 1865) *''Kleinere Schriften'' (F. Dümmler, Berlin, 1864–1884, 7 vols.). ** vol. 1 : ''Reden und Abhandlungen'' (1864, 2nd ed. 1879) ** vol. 2 : ''Abhandlungen zur Mythologie und Sittenkunde'' (1865) ** vol. 3 : ''Abhandlungen zur Litteratur und Grammatik'' (1866) ** vol. 4 : ''Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze'', part I (1869) ** vol. 5 : ''Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze'', part II (1871) ** vol. 6 : ''Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze'', part III ** vol. 7 : ''Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze'', part IV (1884)

Citations

External links

* * * * * * Works co-authored by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm:
Teutonic Mythology
English translation of Grimm's ''Deutsche Mythologie'' (1880).

(This site is the only one to feature all of the Grimms' notes translated in English along with the tales from Hunt's original edition. Andrew Lang's introduction is also included.) * * * *
The Grimm dictionary online

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimm, Jakob 1785 births 1863 deaths 19th-century anthropologists 19th-century German writers 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German jurists 19th-century philologists People from Hanau People from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel Members of the Frankfurt Parliament German anthropologists Linguists from Germany German philologists German lexicographers German male non-fiction writers Writers on Germanic paganism Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Germanic studies scholars Grammarians from Germany Linguists of German Mythographers Romanticism Indo-Europeanists Linguists of Germanic languages Linguists of Indo-European languages University of Marburg alumni University of Göttingen faculty Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities