Rudolf von Raumer (14 April 1815, Breslau – 30 August 1876,

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 116,062 inha ...

) was a German

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...

and

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...

, known for his extensive research 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 ...

. He was the son of geologist Karl Georg von Raumer.

Biography

He studied classical and

Germanic philology Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

at the universities of

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, where his instructors were

Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann (13 May 1785, Wismar5 December 1860, Bonn) was a German historian and politician. Biography He came of an old Hanseatic family of Wismar, then controlled by Sweden. His father, who was burgomaster of the town, int ...

and

Jacob Grimm 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 t ...

. From 1840 he was ''

privatdocent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

'' at the University of Erlangen, where in 1846 he became an associate professor. In 1852 he became a full professor of German language and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

at Erlangen. In regards to historical and comparative

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

, Raumer understood the need for more specific phonetic concepts and vocabulary, and he proposed numerous refinements and clarifications in that area. He stressed the basic role of Jacob Grimm's work and the need to advance beyond it. He also conducted comprehensive research on German

dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...

and

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

. In 1876 his ideas for spelling reform were partially carried out by the Prussian government.

Published works

He published ''Fortsetzung der untersuchungen über die urverwandtschaft der semitischen und indoeuropäischen sprachen'' (Investigations into the ancient relationship between the Semitic and

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 ...

, 1867 et seq.). His other written efforts include: * ''Die Aspiration und die Lautverschiebung; eine sprachgeschichtliche untersuchung'', 1837 – The aspiration and the

sound shift In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

. * ''Die Einwirkung des Christenthums auf die althochdeutsche Sprache ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Kirche'', 1845 – The influence of Christianity on the Old High German language. * ''Das deutsche Wörterbuch der Gebrüder Grimm und die Entwickelung der deutschen Schriftsprache'', 1858 – The German dictionary of 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 ...

and the development of the written German language. * ''Gesammelte sprachwissenschaftliche Schriften Gesammelte'', 1863 – Collected linguistic writings. * ''Herr Professor Schleicher in Jena und Die Urverwandtschaft der semitischen und indoeuropäischen Sprachen. Ein kritisches Bedenken'', 1864 – Professor

August Schleicher August Schleicher (; 19 February 1821 – 6 December 1868) was a German linguist. His great work was ''A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages'' in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European languag ...

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

and the relationship of Semitic and Indo-European languages. * ''Geschichte der germanischen philologie vorzugsweise in Deutschland'', 1870 – History of Germanic philology, especially in Germany. * ''Der Unterricht im Deutschen'', 1873 – Lessons in the German language.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

* 1815 births 1876 deaths Linguists from Germany German philologists University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni University of Erlangen-Nuremberg faculty University of Göttingen alumni Paleolinguists Linguists of Indo-Semitic languages {{Germany-linguist-stub