Brothers Grimm

:This article is about the authors the Brothers Grimm. For information about the fictional movie loosely based on these writers, see The Brothers Grimm.

Linguistics

In the very early 19th century, the time in which the Brothers Grimm lived, the Holy Roman Empire had just met its fate, and Germany as we know it today did not yet exist; it was basically an area of hundreds of principalities and small or mid-sized countries. The major unifying factor for the German people of the time was a common language. There was as yet no significant German literary history. So part of what motivated the brothers in their writings and in their lives was the desire to help create a German identity.

Related Topics:
19th century - Holy Roman Empire - Germany - Common language

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Less well known to the general public outside Germany is the Brothers Grimm's work on a German dictionary, the Deutsches Wörterbuch. Indeed, the Deutsches Wörterbuch was the first major step in creating a standardized "modern" German language since Martin Luther's translation of the Bible from Latin to German. Being very extensive (33 volumes, weighing 84 kg) it is still considered as the standard reference for German etymology.

Related Topics:
Deutsches Wörterbuch - Martin Luther - Etymology

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The brother Jakob is recognized for enunciating Grimm's law, Germanic Sound Shift, that was first observed by the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask. Grimm's law was the first non-trivial systematic sound change ever to be discovered.

Related Topics:
Grimm's law - Rasmus Christian Rask - Sound change

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