Heinrich Lausberg

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Heinrich Lausberg (born October 12, 1912 in Aachen , † April 11, 1992 in Münster ) was a German Romance scholar , linguist and rhetoric researcher .

Life

Lausberg studied classical , Romance and Indo-European linguistics in Bonn and Tübingen . After a research trip for dialect research in the southern Italian Basilicata , he received his doctorate in 1937 with a dissertation written by Gerhard Rohlfs on the dialects of southern Lucania . He then worked on the French Etymological Dictionary and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae . During the Second World War he was used as an interpreter in Russia and Italy.

Immediately after his return from captivity, he completed his habilitation in 1945 at the University of Munich with his dissertation, which was rated as excellent. A short time later, Lausberg taught at the University of Bonn , where he met his future mentor Ernst Robert Curtius . In 1949 he was appointed head of the Romance seminar at the University of Münster . There he dealt with European literature and its new interpretation. As an aid to interpretation, Lausberg wrote the elements of literary rhetoric in 1949 , which he continued with the handbook of literary rhetoric in 1960 .

In 1972 Lausberg went to the Paderborn Comprehensive University to set up the Romance seminar there.

According to Harald Weinrich's judgment , Lausberg was “a pioneer of modern linguistics, a classic of rhetoric and an absolute philologist”. In recognition of his scientific merits, he was appointed to several academies:

Besides, he was

In addition to his numerous scientific work, Lausberg also worked as a choir director, composer and arranger.

The classical philologist Marion Lausberg is his daughter.

Approaches to rhetoric

The motivation for the elements that have become standard works and for the handbook of literary rhetoric ("der Lausberg") goes back to Lausberg's Bonn contact with Curtius, who competed with Curtius after the war, when the European literatures first stepped out of their national borders Interpretation. In view of the diversity of these literatures, Curtius had put it: European literature has a common basis in Latin literature; This means in the following: European literature can be interpreted in general with the same standards. Lausberg took up this reference to Latin and antiquity and therefore mainly worked on ancient rhetoric during his time in Münster.

From the overall system of rhetoric, Lausberg focused on two individual stages of the rhetorical process: dispositio and elocutio , and in particular the elocutio, i.e. the linguistic design of a text.

Lausberg saw in rhetoric a "system of intellectual and linguistic forms". Although a listener or reader must have a grammatical awareness in order to recognize, for example, the form of an imperative that the orator uses as an imperative and the expected consequence, this is again not the case with rhetorical forms. An " empirical mastery (...) of the rhetorical forms used is not necessary for the listener". A listener is thus emotionally aroused by a rhetorical question , even without consciously reflecting on the phenomenon of the rhetorical question as such. The literary scholar, however, should know these rhetorical forms and, if possible, master them.

Lausberg also interpreted the rhetorical structures historically in the context of their respective epochs. However, he repeatedly traced forms of the modern age and the Middle Ages back to their origins in antiquity, the breadth of which is due to the importance of rhetoric at the time.

Publications

  • The dialects of southern Lucania, Halle 1939
  • Elements of literary rhetoric. An introduction for students of classical, Romance, English and German philology, Munich 1949; 2nd, expanded edition, ibid. 1963
  • Romance Linguistics I − III, Berlin 1956
  • Manual of literary rhetoric. A foundation of literary studies, 2 volumes, Munich 1960 u.ö.
  • The sonnet Les Grenades by Paul Valéry , Opladen 1971
  • The hymn Ave maris stella , Opladen 1976
  • The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus , Opladen 1979
  • The Johannes prologue. Rhetorical findings on the form and meaning of the text, Göttingen 1984
  • Ernst Robert Curtius 1886–1956, Stuttgart 1993

literature

  • Arnold Arens (Ed.): Text Etymology. Body and content research. Festschrift for Heinrich Lausberg on his 75th birthday. Wiesbaden 1987 (therein: List of publications by Heinrich Lausberg , pp. XIX – XLI).
  • Hans Albert Richard: In memoriam Heinrich Lausberg , Paderborn 1993.
  • Wolfgang Babilas (Hrsg.): Heinrich Lausberg to commemorate: files of a scientific colloquium. Munster 1994.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from: Wolfgang Babilas (Ed.) Heinrich Lausberg zum Gedenken [see literature], 12.
  2. ↑ 1961: Membership catalog of the Crusca
  3. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 146.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lausberg, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Romanist and rhetorician
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1992
Place of death Muenster