Chapter IX: Front Matter (9)

[7] Cf. the article "Mundarten" by R. Loewe in R. Bethge, _Ergebnisse
und Fortschritte der germanistischen Wissenschaft_ (Leipzig, 1902),
pp. 75-88; and F. Mentz, _Bibliographie der deutschen
Mundartforschung_ (Leipzig, 1892). Of periodicals may be mentioned
Deutsche Mundarten, by J.W. Nagl (Vienna, 1896 ff.); _Zeitschrift fur
hochdeutsche Mundarten_, by O. Heilig and Ph. Lenz (Heidelberg, 1900
ff.), continued as _Zeitschrift f. deutsche Mundarten_, Verlag des
Allgemeinen Deutschen Sprachvereins. Owing to its importance as a
model for subsequent monographs J. Kinteler's _Die Kerenzer Mundart
des Kantons Glarus_ (Leipzig, 1876) should not be passed unnoticed.

[8] Cf. especially H. Tumpel, "Die Mundarten des alten
niedersachsischen Gebietes zwischen 1300 und 1500" (Paul und Braune's
Beitrage, vii. pp. 1-104); _Niederdeutsche Studien_, by the same
writer (Bielefeld, 1898); Bahnke, "Uber Sprach- und Gaugrenzen
zwischen Elbe und Weser" (_Jahrbuch des Vereins fur niederdeutsche
Sprachforschung_, vii. p. 77).

[9] Upper Saxon and Thuringian are sometimes taken as a separate
group.

[10] Cf. W. Braune, "Zur Kenntnis des Frankischen" (_Beitrage_, i.
pp. 1-56); O. Bohme, _Zur Kenntnis des Oberfrankischen im 13., 14.
und 15. Jahrh._ (Dissertation) (Leipzig, 1893), where a good account
of the differences between the Rhenish Franconian and South
Franconian dialects will be found.

[11] Cf. C. Norrenberg, "Lautverschiebungsstufe des
Mittelfrankischen" (_Beitrage_, ix. 371 ff.); R. Heinzel, _Geschichte
der niederfrankischen Geschaftssprache_ (Paderborn, 1874).

[12] This is also the dialect of the so-called Siebenburger Sachsen.

[13] Cf. E. Sievers, _Oxforder Benediktinerregel_ (Halle, 1887), p.
xvi.; J. Meier, Jolande (1887), pp. vii. ff.; O. Bohme, l.c. p. 60.

[14] Lower Hesse (the northern and eastern parts) goes, however, in
many respects its own way.

[15] On the High German dialects cf. K. Weinhold, _Alemannische
Grammatik_ (Berlin, 1863); F. Kauffmann, _Geschichte der schwabischen
Mundart_ (Strassburg, 1870); E. Haendcke, _Die mundartlichen Elemente
in den elsassischen Urkunden_ (Strassburg, 1894); K. Weinhold,
_Bairische Grammatik_ (1867); J.A. Schmeller, _Die Mundarten Baierns_
(Munich, 1821); J.N. Schwabl, _Die altbairischen Mundarten_ (Munchen,
1903); O. Brenner, _Mundarten und Schriftsprache in Bayern_ (Bamberg,
1890); J. Schatz, _Die Mundart von Imst_ (Strassburg, 1897); J.W.
Nagl, _Der Vocalismus der bairisch-osterreichischen Mundarten_
(1890-1891); W. Gradl, _Die Mundarten Westbohmens_ (Munich, 1896); P.
Lessiak, "Die Mundart von Pernegg in Karnten" (Paul and Braune,
_Beitrage_, vol. xxviii.).

[16] Cf., for a hypothesis of two _Umlautsperioden_ during the Old
High German time, F. Kauffmann, _Geschichte der schwabischen Mundart_
(Strassburg, 1890), S. 152.

[17] Cf. W. Wilmanns, _Deutsche Grammatik_, i. (2nd edition) pp.
300-304.

[18] Wilmanns, l.c. pp. 273-280. It might be mentioned that, in
Modern High German, these new diphthongs are neither in spelling nor
in educated pronunciation distinguished from the older ones.

[19] Cf. Wilmanns, pp. 280-284.

[20] Ibid. pp. 129-132.

[21] Cf. K. Lachmann, _Kleinere Schriften_, i. p. 161 ff.; Mullenhoff
and Scherer's _Denkmaler_ (3rd ed.), i. p. xxvii.; H. Paul, _Gab es
eine mhd. Schriftsprache?_ (Halle, 1873); O. Behaghel, _Zur Frage
nach einer mhd. Schriftsprache_ (Basel, 1886) (Cf. Paul and Braune's
_Beitrage_, xiii. p. 464 ff.); A. Socin, _Schriftsprache und
Dialekte_ (Heilbronn, 1888); H. Fischer, _Zur Geschichte des
Mittelhochdeutschen_ (Tubingen, 1889); O. Behaghel, _Schriftsprache
und Mundart_ (Giessen, 1896); K. Zwierzina, _Beobachtungen zum
Reimgebrauch Hartmanns und Wolframs_ (Haile, 1898); S. Singer, _Die
mhd. Schriftsprache_ (1900); C. Kraus, _Heinrich von Veldeke und die
mhd. Dichtersprache_ (Halle, 1899); G. Roethe, _Die Reimvorreden des
Sachsenspiegels_ (Berlin, 1899); H. Tumpel, _Niederdeutsche Studien_
(1898).

[22] For literature bearing on the complicated question of the
_Druckersprachen_, readers are referred to the article
"Neuhochdeutsche Schriftsprache," by W. Scheel, in Bethge's
_Ergebnisse ... der germanistischen Wissenschaft_ (1902), pp. 47, 50
f. Cf. also K. von Bahder, _Grundlagen des nhd. Lautsystems_ (1890),
pp. 15 ff.

[23] A German _Priamel_ mentions as an essential quality in a
beautiful woman: "die red dort her von Swaben."

[24] Cf. for a detailed discussion of the noun declension, K.
Boiunga, _Die Entwicklung der mhd. Substantivflexion_ (Leipzig,
1890); and, more particularly for the masculine and neuter nouns, two
articles by H. Molz, "Die Substantivflexion seit mhd. Zeit," in Paul
and Braune's _Beitrage_, xxvii. p. 209 ff. and xxxi. 277 ff. For the
changes in the gender of nouns, A. Polzin, _Geschlechtswandel der
Substantiva im Deutschen_ (Hildesheim, 1903).

[25] Cf. C. Blanckenburg, _Studien uber die Sprache Abrahams a S.
Clara_ (Halle, 1897); H. Strigl, "Einiges uber die Sprache des P.
Abraham a Sancta Clara" (_Zeitschr. f. deutsche Wortforschung_, viii.
206 ff.).

[26] Cf. F. Kluge, _Etymologisches Worterbuch_ (6th ed.), pp. 508 ff.
One can speak of: _Studenten-, Soldaten-, Weidmanns-, Bergmanns-,
Drucker-, Juristen-, und Zigeunersprache, und Rotwelsch_. Cf. F.
Kluge, _Die deutsche Studentensprache_ (Strassburg, 1894);
_Rotwelsch_ i. (Strassburg, 1901); R. Bethge, _Ergebnisse_, &c., p.
55 f.

[27] Cf. H. Wunderlich, _Unsere Umgangssprache_ (Weimar, 1894).

[28] Cf. Th. Siebs, _Deutsche Buhnenaussprache_ (2nd ed., Berlin,
1901), and the same writer's _Grundzuge der Buhnensprache_ (1900).

[29] W. Braune, _Uber die Einigung der deutschen Aussprache_ (Halle,
1905); and the review by O. Brenner, in the _Zeitschrift des
allgemeinen deutschen Sprachvereins_, Beihefte iv. 27, pp. 228-232.

[30] Cf. K. Luick, _Deutsche Lautlehre mit besonderer
Berucksichtigung der Sprechweise Wiens und der osterreichischen
Alpenlander_ (1904); O. Brenner, "Zur Aussprache des Hochdeutschen"
l.c., pp. 218-228.

GERMAN LITERATURE. Compared with other literatures, that of the German-speaking peoples presents a strangely broken and interrupted course; it falls into more or less isolated groups, separated from each other by periods which in intellectual darkness and ineptitude are virtually without a parallel in other European lands. The explanation of this irregularity of development is to be sought less in the chequered political history of the German people--although this was often reason enough--than in the strongly marked, one might almost say, provocative character of the national mind as expressed in literature. The Germans were not able, like their partially latinized English cousins--or even their Scandinavian neighbours--to adapt themselves to the various waves of literary influence which emanated from Italy and France and spread with irresistible power over all Europe; their literary history has been rather a struggle for independent expression, a constant warring against outside forces, even when the latter--like the influence of English literature in the 18th century and of Scandinavian at the close of the 19th--were hailed as friendly and not hostile. It is a peculiarity of German literature that in those ages when, owing to its own poverty and impotence, it was reduced to borrowing its ideas and its poetic forms from other lands, it sank to the most servile imitation; while the first sign of returning health has invariably been the repudiation of foreign influence and the assertion of the right of genius to untrammelled expression. Thus Germany's periods of literary efflorescence rarely coincide with those of other nations, and great European movements, like the Renaissance, passed over her without producing a single great poet.

This chequered course, however, renders the grouping of German literature and the task of the historian the easier. The first and simplest classification is that afforded by the various stages of linguistic development. In accordance with the three divisions in the history of the High German language, there is an Old High German, a Middle High German and a New High German or Modern High German literary epoch. It is obvious, however, that the last of these divisions covers too enormous a period of literary history to be regarded as analogous to the first two. The present survey is consequently divided into six main sections:

I. The Old High German Period, including the literature of the Old Saxon dialect, from the earliest times to the middle of the 11th century.

II. The Middle High German Period, from the middle of the 11th to the middle of the 14th century.

III. The Transition Period, from the middle of the 14th century to the Reformation in the 16th century.

IV. The Period of Renaissance and Pseudo-classicism, from the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 18th.

V. The Classical Period of Modern German literature, from the middle of the 18th century to Goethe's death in 1832.

VI. The Period from Goethe's death to the present day.