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Proto-Kartvelian language

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The Proto-Kartvelian language , or Common Kartvelian ( Georgian : წინარექართველური ენა , romanized : ts'inarekartveluri ena , Georgian : პროტოქართველური ენა , romanized : p'rot'okartveluri ena ), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages , which was spoken by the ancestors of the modern Kartvelian peoples . The existence of such a language is widely accepted by specialists in linguistics, who have reconstructed a broad outline of the language by comparing the existing Kartvelian languages against each other. Several linguists, namely Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov have also reconstructed a lower-level proto-language called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan , which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and Zan ).

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73-1007: The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian are highly similar to those of the Indo-European languages , and so it is thought that Proto-Kartvelian interacted with Indo-European at a relatively early date. This is reinforced by cognates with Indo-European, such as the Proto-Kartvelian * mḳerd- ('breast'), and its possible relation to the Proto-Indo-European * ḱerd- ('heart'). Proto-Kartvelian *ṭep- (warm) may also be related to Proto-Indo-European * tep- 'warm'. The modern descendants of Proto-Kartvelian are Georgian , Svan , Mingrelian and Laz . The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian were better preserved in Georgian and (particularly) Svan than in either Mingrelian or Laz, in which new forms have been set up so that there

146-541: 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. Grimm's monumental dictionary of the German Language , the Deutsches Wörterbuch , was started in 1838 and first published in 1854. The Brothers anticipated it would take 10 years and encompass some six to seven volumes. However, it

219-402: A n , ph o tograph / ph o tography ). Confusingly, in some contexts, the terms 'ablaut', 'vowel gradation', 'apophony' and 'vowel alternation' are used synonymously, especially in synchronic comparisons, but historical linguists prefer to keep 'ablaut' for the specific Indo-European phenomenon, which is the meaning intended by the linguists who first coined the word. In Proto-Indo-European,

292-442: 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. 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 Hesse-Kassel had been incorporated by Napoleon . Grimm

365-553: A single vowel in the parent language. In particular, the zero grade was often subject to modification from changes in the pronunciation of syllabic sonorants. For example, in Germanic, syllabic sonorants acquired an epenthetic -u- , thus converting the original zero grade to a new "u-grade" in many words. Thus, while ablaut survives in some form in all Indo-European languages, it became progressively less systematic over time. Ablaut explains vowel differences between related words of

438-464: A verb is *bʰeydʰ- "to wait" (cf. "bide"). In the daughter languages, these came to be important markers of grammatical distinctions. The vowel change in the Germanic strong verb, for example, is the direct descendant of that seen in the Indo-European verb paradigm. Examples in modern English are the following: It was in this context of Germanic verbs that ablaut was first described, and this

511-600: A year later, having just recovered from a severe illness, and likewise began the study of law. Jacob Grimm became inspired by the lectures of Friedrich Carl von Savigny , a noted expert of Roman law ; 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 and antiquarian investigation, which underlies all his work. It

584-418: 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 ,

657-521: Is "sound reduction". It was coined in this sense in 1819 by the German linguist Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Grammatik , though the word had been used before him. In particular, the 17th-century grammarian Schottelius had used the word negatively to suggest that German verbs lacked the sophistication of the classics, but there is no hint of this disdain in Grimm or in modern scholarly usage. In English,

730-473: Is a single, stable vowel in each word element. The system of pronouns of Proto-Kartvelian is distinct on account of its category of inclusive– exclusive (so, for instance, there were two forms of the pronoun "we": one that includes the listener and one that does not). This has survived in Svan but not in the other languages. Svan also includes a number of archaisms from the Proto-Kartvelian era, and therefore it

803-566: Is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb s i ng, s a ng, s u ng and its related noun s o ng , a paradigm inherited directly from the Proto-Indo-European stage of the language. Traces of ablaut are found in all modern Indo-European languages , though its prevalence varies greatly. The phenomenon of Indo-European ablaut

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876-565: Is easily explained: the PIE root is *h 1 es- . In the singular, the stem is stressed, so it remains in the e-grade, and it takes the inflection -ti . In the plural, however, the inflection -énti was stressed, causing the stem to reduce to the zero grade: *h 1 es-énti → *h 1 s-énti . See main article: Indo-European copula . Some of the morphological functions of the various grades are as follows: e-grade: o-grade: zero-grade: lengthened grade: Many examples of lengthened-grade roots in

949-466: Is not difficult to imagine it as a contraction of an older *ph 2 terés, pronounced perhaps [pɐterés] , as this combination of consonants and vowels would be possible in English as well. In other cases, however, the absence of a vowel strikes the speaker of a modern western European language as unpronounceable. To understand, one must be aware that there were a number of sounds that were consonants in principle but could operate in ways analogous to vowels:

1022-408: Is said to be from pre-Proto-Indo-European syncope in unaccented syllables, but in some cases the lack of accent does not cause zero grade: *deywó- , nominative plural *-es "god". There does not seem to be a rule governing the unaccented syllables that take zero grade and the ones that take stronger grades. It is still a matter of debate whether PIE had an original a-vowel at all. In later PIE,

1095-400: Is said to be in the "zero grade". Syllables with long vowels are said to be in "lengthened grade". (When the e -grade or the o -grade is referred to, the short vowel forms are meant.) A classic example of the five grades of ablaut in a single root is provided by the different case forms of two closely related Greek words. In the following table, an acute accent (´) marks the syllable carrying

1168-471: Is still what most people primarily associate with the phenomenon. A fuller description of ablaut operating in English, German and Dutch verbs and of the historical factors governing these can be found at the article Germanic strong verb . The same phenomenon is displayed in the verb tables of Latin , Ancient Greek and Sanskrit . Examples of ablaut as a grammatical marker in Latin are the vowel changes in

1241-407: Is the Indo-European ablaut, remnants of which can be seen in the English verbs r i de , r o de , r i dden , or fl y , fl ew , fl ow n . For simply learning English grammar, it is enough to note that these verbs are irregular , but understanding why they have unusual forms that seem irregular (and indeed why they are actually perfectly regular within their own terms) requires an understanding of

1314-575: Is thought that Svan broke off from Proto-Kartvelian at a relatively early stage: the later Proto-Kartvelian stage (called Karto-Zan ) split into Georgian and Zan (Mingrelo-Laz). Distinction between plain [ q ] and ejective [ qʼ ] remains only in Svan language . This distinction also existed in Old Georgian . Ablaut In linguistics , the Indo-European ablaut ( / ˈ æ b l aʊ t / AB -lowt , from German Ablaut pronounced [ˈaplaʊt] )

1387-687: The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities 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 and the University of Göttingen . The first work Jacob Grimm published, Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (1811),

1460-609: 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

1533-527: 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

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1606-662: The Romance languages is founded entirely on Grimm's methods, which have had a profound influence on the wider study of the Indo-European languages in general. 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,

1679-568: 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

1752-561: The French, and he attended the Congress of Vienna 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

1825-417: 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

1898-451: 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 comparisons 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

1971-432: The article apophony . Some involve a variation in vowel length (quantitative gradation: ph o tograph / ph o tography shows reduction of the first vowel to a schwa ), others in vowel coloring (qualitative gradation: m a n / m e n ) and others the complete disappearance of a vowel (reduction to zero: could n o t → couldn't ). For the study of European languages, one of the most important instances of vowel gradation

2044-404: The basic, inherent vowel of most syllables was a short e . Ablaut is the name of the process whereby this short e changed, becoming short o , long ē , long ō or sometimes disappearing entirely to leave no vowel at all. Thus, ablaut results in the alternation of the following sounds: If a syllable had a short e , it is said to be in the "e-grade" or "full grade". When it had no vowel, it

2117-563: 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 postulated Gothic , and that

2190-720: 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 , 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

2263-408: The daughter languages are actually caused by the effect of laryngeals and of Szemerényi's law and Stang's law , which operated within Indo-European times. 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 formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and

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2336-406: The development in the daughter languages is frequently far more complicated, and few reflect the original system as neatly as Greek. Various factors, such as vowel harmony , assimilation with nasals, or the effect of the presence of laryngeals in the Indo-European (IE) roots as well as their subsequent loss in most daughter languages, mean that a language may have several different vowels representing

2409-410: The disappearance of the laryngeal h 2 could leave an a-colouring and this may explain all occurrences of a in later PIE. However, some argue controversially that the e-grade could sometimes be replaced by an a-grade without the influence of a laryngeal, which might help to explain the vowels in class 6 Germanic verbs , for example. Although PIE had only this one, basically regular, ablaut sequence,

2482-519: The early 18th century by the Dutch linguist Lambert ten Kate , in his book Gemeenschap tussen de Gottische spraeke en de Nederduytsche ("Common aspects of the Gothic and Dutch languages", 1710). The term ablaut is borrowed from German, and derives from the noun Laut "sound", and the prefix ab- , which indicates movement downwards or away, or deviation from a norm; thus the literal meaning

2555-483: The examples above, Szemerényi's law affected the older sequences *ph 2 -tér-s and *n̥-péh 2 -tor-s, changing them to *ph 2 -tḗr and *n̥-péh 2 -tōr. Thus, these forms were originally in the regular, unlengthened e-grade and o-grade. Such lengthened vowels were, however, later grammaticalised and spread to other words in which the change did not occur. Nevertheless, there are examples of true lengthened grades, in which short e alternates with long ē . Examples are

2628-519: 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 also held great charm for Jacob Grimm, and he published an edition of

2701-405: The four syllabic sonorants, the three laryngeals and the two semi-vowels: When u and i came in postvocalic positions, the result was a diphthong. Ablaut is nevertheless regular and looks like this: Thus, any of these could replace the ablaut vowel when it was reduced to the zero-grade: the pattern CVrC (for example, *bʰergʰ- ) could become CrC ( *bʰr̥gʰ- ). However, not every PIE syllable

2774-406: The grammar of the reconstructed proto-language . Ablaut is the oldest and most extensive single source of vowel gradation in the Indo-European languages and must be distinguished clearly from other forms of gradation, which developed later, such as Germanic umlaut ( m a n / m e n , g oo se / g ee se , l o ng / l e ngth ) or the results of modern English word-stress patterns ( m a n / wom

2847-543: The illustration of the great, the popular tradition for the elucidation of the written monuments. 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

2920-399: 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

2993-402: The language started to develop a more complex vowel system. Thus, it has often been speculated that an original e-grade underwent two changes in some phonetic environments: under certain circumstances, it changed to o (the o-grade) and in others, it disappeared entirely (the zero-grade). However, that is not certain: the phonetic conditions that controlled ablaut have never been determined, and

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3066-431: 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

3139-463: 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

3212-419: The law to High German in any case is entirely Grimm's work. The idea that Grimm wished to deprive Rask of his priority claims 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,

3285-618: The mythology and superstitions of the old Teutons back to the very dawn of direct evidence, and following their evolution to modern-day popular traditions, tales, and expressions. 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)

3358-588: 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 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

3431-504: The origin of the Icelandic language , 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

3504-403: The paradigms of verbs and nouns. These were not the main markers of grammatical form, since the inflection system served this purpose, but they must have been significant secondary markers. An example of ablaut in the paradigm of the noun in PIE can be found in *pértus , from which the English words ford and (via Latin) port are derived (both via the zero-grade stem *pr̥t- ). An example in

3577-485: The perfect stem of verbs. Ablaut can often explain apparently random irregularities. For example, the verb "to be" in Latin has the forms est (he is) and sunt (they are). The equivalent forms in German are very similar: ist and sind . The same forms were present in Proto-Slavic : *estь and *sǫtь , and developed into e.g. Polish jest and są . The difference between singular and plural in these languages

3650-533: The position of the word stress may not have been a key factor at all. There are many counterexamples to the proposed rules: *deywós and its nominative plural *deywóes show pretonic and posttonic e-grade, respectively, and *wĺ̥kʷos has an accented zero grade. Many examples of lengthened grades, including those listed above, are not directly conditioned by ablaut. Instead, they are a result of sound changes like Szemerényi's law and Stang's law , which caused compensatory lengthening of originally short vowels. In

3723-514: The role of the 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 . Grimm joined other academics, known as

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3796-541: The same language. For example: Ablaut also explains vowel differences between cognates in different languages. For the English-speaking non-specialist, a good reference work for quick information on IE roots, including the difference of ablaut grade behind related lexemes, is Watkins (2000). (Note that in discussions of lexis, Indo-European roots are normally cited in the e-grade, without any inflections.) In PIE, there were already ablaut differences within

3869-464: 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

3942-402: The severe school of classical philology, to Old and Middle High German 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

4015-464: The term became established through the 1845 translation of Bopp's Comparative Grammar . Vowel gradation is any vowel difference between two related words (such as ph o tograph [ˈf əʊ təgrɑːf] and ph o tography [f ə ˈtɒgrəfi]) or two forms of the same word (such as m a n and m e n ). The difference does not need to be indicated in the spelling. There are many kinds of vowel gradation in English and other languages, which are discussed generally in

4088-583: The two ancient fragments of the Hildebrandslied and the Weißenbrunner Gebet , Jacob having discovered what until then had never been suspected — namely the alliteration 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

4161-482: The verbs with "Narten" inflection , and nouns like *mḗh₁-n̥s "moon", genitive *méh₁-n̥s-os . Alternations of this type were rare, however, and the e ~ o ~ ∅ alternation was the most common by far. The long ō grade was rarer still and may not have actually been a part of the ablaut system at all. The zero grade of ablaut may appear difficult for speakers of English. In the case of *ph 2 trés, which may already have been pronounced something like [pɐtrés] , it

4234-422: 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

4307-458: The word stress; a macron (¯) marks long vowels and the syllable in bold is the one illustrating the different vowel gradations. In this unusually neat example, the following can be seen: As with most reconstructions, however, scholars differ about the details of this example. One way to think of this system is to suppose that Proto-Indo-European originally had only one vowel, short e , and over time, it changed according to phonetic context, so

4380-506: 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. 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

4453-476: 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

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4526-403: Was capable of forming a zero grade; some consonant structures inhibited it in particular cases, or completely. Thus, for example, although the preterite plural of a Germanic strong verb (see below) is derived from the zero grade, classes 4 and 5 have instead vowels representing the lengthened e-grade, as the stems of these verbs could not have sustained a zero grade in this position. Zero grade

4599-492: Was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1863. Jacob Grimm died on 20 September 1863, in Berlin, Germany from disease, at the age of 78. 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

4672-401: Was first recorded by Sanskrit grammarians in the later Vedic period (roughly 8th century BCE), and was codified by Pāṇini in his Aṣṭādhyāyī (4th century BCE), where the terms guṇa and vṛddhi were used to describe the phenomena now known respectively as the full grade and lengthened grade . In the context of European languages, the phenomenon was first described in

4745-701: Was in Savigny's library that Grimm first saw Bodmer 's edition of the Middle High German minnesingers and other early texts, which gave him a desire to study their language. At 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

4818-471: Was left with a very small income. Her sister was the 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

4891-473: 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

4964-414: Was profound. 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

5037-587: 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

5110-590: Was the co-author of the Deutsches Wörterbuch , the author of Deutsche Mythologie , and the editor of Grimms' Fairy Tales . He was the older brother of Wilhelm Grimm ; together, they were the literary duo known as the Brothers Grimm . Jacob Grimm was born 4 January 1785, in Hanau in Hesse-Kassel . His father, Philipp Grimm , was a lawyer who died while Jacob was a child, and his mother Dorothea

5183-418: Was the first law in linguistics concerning a non-trivial sound change . It was a turning point in the development of linguistics, enabling the introduction of a rigorous methodology to historic linguistic research. It concerns the correspondence of consonants between the ancestral Proto-Indo-European language and its Germanic descendants, Low Saxon and High German , and was first fully stated by Grimm in

5256-514: 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 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

5329-434: Was undertaken on so large a scale as to make it impossible for them to complete it. The dictionary, as far as it was worked on by Grimm himself, has been described as a collection of disconnected antiquarian essays of high value. It was finally finished by subsequent scholars in 1961 and supplemented in 1971. At 33 volumes at some 330,000 headwords, it remains a standard work of reference to the present day. A current project at

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