Winged words
Winged Words is a collection of quotes by the Berlin senior teacher Georg Büchmann ( Winged words - the treasure trove of quotations of the German people ), the first edition of which appeared in 1864 and was widely used in Germany. In the 19th century and beyond, it was a standard work in the collection of so-called winged words .
Georg Büchmann
August Methuselah Georg Büchmann (born January 4, 1822 in Berlin; † February 24, 1884 in Berlin-Schöneberg) was a German philologist and high school teacher. His collection of quotations established itself as a standard work, and its title has been associated with the subject matter it deals with ever since.
Until then, winged words only meant what Homer said, namely
"Words that quickly hurry from the lips of the speaker and fly to the ears of the listener"
The term "winged word"
Only since the publication of Büchmann's collection of quotations has the expression become in the sense of
- literarily verifiable
- passed into the general vocabulary of the people
- common ones
Sayings used.
Büchmann's collection of popular quotes, which had become popular idioms, was mostly based on Latin or Greek idioms , as is the case with "winged words" (Greek: ἔπεα πτερόεντα - épea pteróenta) itself. The expression occurs 46 times in the Iliad and 58 times in the Odyssey . The words reach the ear of the listener on wings as it were. The German formulation is a creation of the poet Johann Heinrich Voss , whose translation of the Iliad appeared in 1793.
Büchmann's name was soon adopted in other languages. In an essay on Walter Scott in 1888, Thomas Carlyle used the expression winged words in the sense of quotable sentences .
The collection
In addition to German sources, Büchmann's collection also included biblical quotations, Greek and Roman quotations from classical antiquity and works from European and American literature, insofar as they had an influence on German high school education and literary culture. In addition to the wording (and possibly a German translation), it lists the exact source and an explanation of the meaning. Idioms, the origin of which is unclear, were and will not be taken into account.
In parallel to the extensive complete edition, the same publisher (Haude & Spener) published a heavily abridged “People's Edition ”. Both were gladly used for ceremonial speeches. "He only knows everything from the Büchmann" soon became a popular accusation of half-education .
Since Büchmann's definition of the winged words was vague, the name is actually a hodgepodge of idioms , aphorisms , proverbs , antonomasias and literary quotations .
In the 13th edition published in 1882, Büchmann wrote:
“The arbitrarily chosen term 'winged words', which I gave this book, has become all-valid and has penetrated beyond Germany's borders. It was published in Holland in 1871 under the title 'Gevleugelde Woorden', a pathetic piece of work that exploited me without even mentioning my name. In 1878 Oscar Arlaud in Copenhagen provided a very pleasant, but independent Danish adaptation of the material, which is closely related to my book, under the title 'Bevingede Ord' and added the quotations from the Danish language. In 1881 he published an equally praiseworthy supplement. Arvid Ablfeld published a collection of quotes in Stockholm in 1880 under the title 'Bevingade Ord', for which mine and Oscar Arlauds were used and which also brings the Swedish and Finnish quotations. "
Even after Büchmann's death in 1884, the Winged Words continued to be published, while changing editors shortened the outdated, fashionable and ephemeral and expanded them with contemporary quotations. In the process, the care and qualitative reliability of Büchmann's work, which had once founded its success, dwindled more and more. Since the copyright law expired in 1954, several divergent editions have appeared, including by Ullstein , Droemer Knaur and Reclam .
Already in the 27th edition, which appeared in 1926 and was edited by Bogdan Krieger, quotations from "system greats" such as Philipp Scheidemann , Joseph Wirth and Gustav Stresemann were "denounced", as it is called in the history of the Haude & Spener publishing house from 1939. During the Nazi era, too, an updated edition was published in 1937 by Verlag der Haude & Spenersche Buchhandlung, Max Paschke, Berlin, with additional quotes from the history after the Nazi party came to power.
Origin of the quotations
Büchmann starts his collection of quotes with quotes from the Bible and justifies this as follows:
“No other work of literature has influenced our language as profoundly as the Holy Scriptures. This is especially due to one man: Martin Luther, who began his translation of the Bible in 1521 in the Wartburg and completed it in 1534. "
He points out that not all of these expressions can be found literally in the Luther Bible , because they are often joking further developments.
About 30 percent of the collection - and thus the largest part - take up quotations from the works of German-speaking writers. In addition, the Latin writers are the second most common in Büchmann's collection of quotations. Many of them are legal norms that are still in use today.
With the numerous new editions, it turned out to be necessary to add an appendix “From contemporary events”, because many of the newly added winged words fit into the structure of the book only with difficulty. Many can no longer be assigned to a single country. Others cannot be categorized under the heading of literature or history, such as the examples from the mass media or advertising.
outline
Büchmann structured his collection of quotes mainly by country. This structure was retained in later editions and only slightly expanded.
- From the Bible
- From popular tradition
- From German-speaking writers
- From Nordic writers
- From French writers
- From English speaking writers
- From Italian writers
- From Spanish writers
- From Russian writers
- From Polish writers
- From oriental writers
- From Greek writers
- From Latin writers
- From the story: Hellas
- From the story: Ancient Rome
- From the story: Papal Rome
- From history: Italy
- From history: Spain
- From history: France
- From history: Russia
- From history: Poland
- From history: Holland
- From history: England
- From history: America
- From history: Germany and Austria
- From current affairs
expenditure
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 1st edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1864. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 2nd edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1865. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 3rd revised and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1866. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 4th revised and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1867. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 6th improved and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1871. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 9th improved and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1876. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 11th revised and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1879. MDZ Reader
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 12th improved and increased edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1880. Archive.org
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. 13th increased and revised edition, Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1882. Archive.org
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations of the German people. Gathered and explained by Georg Büchmann. Continued after the author's death by Walter Robert-ternow . 18th improved and enlarged edition. (90th to 100th thousand), Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1895. Archive.org
- Winged words. The treasure trove of quotations from the German people collected and explained by Georg Büchmann. Continued by Walter Robert-ternow. 23rd improved and enlarged edition edited by Eduard Ippel . Haude and Spenersche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1907. Archive.org
- The new Büchmann. Winged words. The classic treasure trove of quotes. Collected and explained by Georg Büchmann, continued by Walter Robert-tornow, 43rd edition (only original edition immediately continued from the first edition in 1864, reworked and updated by Winfried Hofmann), Ullstein, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-550-06829-8 .
- The new Büchmann. Winged words. The classic treasure trove of quotes. Collected and explained by Georg Büchmann, continued by Walter Robert-tornow, unchanged paperback edition of the 43rd, newly edited and updated edition by Winfried Hofmann, Ullstein, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-548-36953-2 .
- Winged words. Full paperback edition, 22nd edition. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-426-07502-4 .
- The great book man. Winged words. Edited and updated by Jürgen Bolz and Claudia Krader, Knaur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-426-66751-7 .
- Winged words. The classic treasure trove of quotes. Continued by Walter Robert-tornow. Edited by Winfried Hofmann . Ullstein, Berlin 2007. ISBN 3-548-36953-7 .
Impact history
Büchmann's Winged Words was a popular book that was available in every middle-class family. That is why there is a considerable number of imitations, variants and special collections that refer to Büchmann.
- Parvulus Mastix: The red Büchmann. Classical citations with social-democratic, Christian-social and Centrum-mistic as well as various and many other Extempore's. Bachmann, Leipzig 1879.
- Alfred Hermann Fried : The little Büchmann. A collection of the most popular quotes and famous sayings in German, Latin, French, English and Italian. In alphabetic order. 2nd edition, Gressner & Schramm 1886.
- Paul Lindenberg : Berlin winged words. A collection of Berlin words and sayings. Lazarus, Berlin 1887.
- Georg Winter: Unwoven words. At the same time an addition to Büchmann. Votsch, Augsburg 1888.
- Franz Friedrich Maseidek: Winged words from and about Austria. A supplement to Büchmann's 'Winged Words'. Schalk, Vienna 1896.
- Gustav Hochstetter: The field-gray Büchmann. Winged words of power from the language of the soldiers. Verlag der Lustige Blätter , Berlin 1916.
- Willy Bünger: Büchmann of the artistry. Winged words of the artist world. Beisswanger, Munich 1919.
- Kurt Fröhlich: On the wings of song. A musical book man. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1920.
- Erich Ebstein: Medical wisdom in over 400 sayings, sentences and aphorisms. A medical book man. Enke, Stuttgart 1931.
- Hans-Joachim Schoeps : Unwoven words. What cannot be in the Büchmann. Haude & Spener, Berlin 1971. ISBN 3-7759-0131-0 .
- Dominikus cerebrum (that is Manfred Bosch): The new Büchmann. From the vocabulary of a classic society. edition nautilus, Verlag Schulenburg, Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-921523-17-6 .
- Kurt Böttcher, Karl Heinz Berger, Kurt Krolop, Christa Zimmermann: Winged words. Quotes, sentences and terms in their historical context. Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig 1981.