Gerhard Cordes (philologist)

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Gerhard Cordes (1968)

Gerhard Cordes (born October 8 or October 21, 1908 in Goslar ; † August 14, 1985 in Göttingen ) was a German philologist and university professor.

Life

Gerhard Cordes was born in 1908 as the son of Friedrich and Helene Cordes, b. Lange, born in Goslar. There he attended the secondary school and passed the Abitur in 1927. From 1927 he studied history and German studies , especially Low German philology, in Göttingen and from 1929 in Hamburg. At the University of Hamburg he received his doctorate in 1932 with a dissertation on the late medieval written language in Goslar. From 1933 to 1942 he worked as an assistant at the Germanic seminar at the University of Hamburg. During this time he worked on the Middle Low German Concise Dictionary . This long-term project was founded in 1923 by Cordes' teachers Agathe Lasch and Conrad Borchling . In 1938 he completed his habilitation with the work Zur Sprache Eilhards von Oberg . Cordes received a call to the University of Berlin in 1942 , where he took over the newly established professorship for Germanic, in particular Low German, philology, although due to the war he was only able to provide a few months. During the Second World War he did several years of military service .

At the time of National Socialism , Cordes joined the SA in July 1933 . There he was responsible for political and ideological training as a squad leader on his platoon. In 1936 he became a member of the NSV, in 1937 in the NSD Lecturer Association and in 1939 in the NSDAP .

After the Second World War

Due to his membership in National Socialist associations, Cordes was initially prohibited from participating in university operations after the end of the war. From 1948 he worked as a lecturer for Low German and Dutch at the University of Kiel . In 1952 he was given an extraordinary professorship for Low German Philology. In 1957 this was converted into a scheduled professorship for Germans, especially Low German, philology. Cordes took over the management of the Middle Low German Dictionary from 1948 until his death.

Since 1930 he had been a member of the Association for Low German Language Research , of which he was chairman from 1966 to 1975. In 1961 he was honored with the culture prize of the city of Goslar. Gerhard Cordes died in Göttingen in August 1985 at the age of 76.

Cordes' research focus was Middle Low German , especially in the East Westphalian language area. His important publications include the Old Low German Elementary Book (1973), the Handbook of Low German Linguistics and Literature Studies (1983, together with Dieter Möhn ) and the Central Low German Concise Dictionary, which has been edited over decades . Editing and research into medieval texts, including writings by Hermann Bote , Braunschweiger and Goslar chronicles and oldest East Westphalian documents, were also part of Cordes' fields of work.

Fonts (selection)

  • Writing and written language in Goslar up to the inclusion of the New High German written language , Hamburger Verl.-Anst. Wachholtz, Hamburg 1934.
  • On the language of Eilhard von Oberg , Hamburger Verl.-Anst. Wachholtz, Hamburg 1939.
  • Selection from the works of Hermann Bote , Wolfenbüttel 1948.
  • Low German dialect poetry and Old and Middle Low German literature , Verlag Schmidt, Berlin / Bielefeld / Munich 1952.
  • Old Low German Elementary Book: Wort- u. Phonology , Verlag Winter, Heidelberg 1973.

literature

  • Herbert Blume : Cordes, Gerhard, Prof. Dr. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 125-126 .
  • Gerhard Hermann Karl Wilhelm Cordes . In: Kiel list of scholars of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel ( online )
  • Wolfgang Bachofer , Wolfgang Beck: German and Low German Philology. The Germanic seminar between 1933 and 1945. In: Eckart Krause u. a. (Ed.): Everyday university life in the Third Reich. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Part II, Reimer, Berlin / Hamburg 1991, pp. 641-703.
  • Christa Hempel-Küter: Science, everyday life and politics. Materials on the history of German studies in Hamburg . In: Petra Boden, Rainer Rosenberg (ed.): Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft 1945–1966. Case study on institutions, discourses, people , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 23–25.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herbert Blume: Cordes, Gerhard, Prof. Dr. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 125 .
  2. ↑ Kiel list of scholars
  3. ↑ Christa Hempel-Küter: Science, everyday life and politics. Materials on the history of German studies in Hamburg . In: Petra Boden, Rainer Rosenberg (ed.): Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft 1945–1966. Case study on institutions, discourses, people , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1997, p. 24
  4. ↑ VndS website (accessed February 3, 2020)
  5. ↑ Kiel list of scholars
personal data
SURNAME Cordes, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cordes, Gerhard Hermann Karl Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH October 8, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Goslar
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1985
Place of death Goettingen