Heinrich Teut

Heinrich Teut 1959 oil painting by his daughter Trude Müller-Teut

Heinrich Teut (born January 21, 1868 in Osterbruch in the Hadeln district on the Lower Elbe; † August 26, 1963 in Hamburg ) was a German linguist and writer .

Life

Heinrich Teut was born in 1868 in the Nubhusen district of the Osterbruch parish as the second son of the farmer August Teut and his wife Anna Marie, daughter of the mayor Johann Niklas Söhle. After the early death of the father in 1875, the mother moved with two sons and two daughters to the east, where relatives could give advice and help in matters of schooling and vocational training for the children and in many other matters. Heinrich Teut attended the Rector's School there and, after his confirmation in Stade, the grammar school. In the east he began the chosen career of post office worker. After completing his training, he worked in various post offices ( Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel , Barby , Ahrensbök , Hamburg-Bergedorf ) and was finally retired as a post office worker in 1928. Heinrich Teut was married to Emma Uter (1872–1897) from Lübeck . From this marriage the only child, the daughter Gertrud (Trude) emerged, who later became a painter. Two and a half years after Emma's death, he married Anna Meier (1875-1953). He died on August 26, 1963 at the age of 95.

Language research

He took an early interest in the Low German language and began to dedicate himself with great intensity to the preservation of this rich, living language. His own words, written down in January 1943, best characterize what was close to his heart:

“As the son of a farmer in the country of Hadeln, I had the opportunity to get to know the Low German language thoroughly. I soon found out that this beautiful, core German language was crumbling more and more, that with every age group of old people, a good part of Low German was buried and irretrievably lost. So I had the idea early on to collect the vocabulary of my native dialect and thereby save it from destruction. I started fifty years ago and now have over 50,000 words and over 10,000 idioms, proverbs, riddles, dance rhymes, etc. "

“It is often claimed that the Low German language is poor in words and its own idiom. So I made up my mind to prove the opposite and to compile the entire vocabulary of all Low German dialects in a High German-Low German dictionary. An excerpt with over 10,000 words has already been published and has been well received in professional circles. It is also used in the practical exercises in the Germanic seminar of the Hanseatic University (note: University of Hamburg ). "

“I have always endeavored to write as simply and simply as the people think and speak. The people's soul is in their language. Of course, the Low German poet should also write in sophisticated language, but the people's way of thinking and expressing themselves must not be violated. Most Low German writers write in a High German dialect, which they call Low German, but not in the Low German language. Anyone who wants to write in this must also be able to think in it. This means that he has mastered the entire vocabulary, not just half of it. "

The love for his homeland and its Low German mother tongue, which Heinrich Teut mastered to a rare degree of perfection, both verbally and in writing, drove him, the man inspired by a thirst for knowledge and research, to tirelessly collect this rich vocabulary over many decades: from memory, with occasional visits and later with scheduled bike rides through the whole country of Hadeln during the holiday season and with the help of friendly employees in the individual parishes , so that he also has some peculiarities (sayings, proverbs, riddles, rhymes, weather rules, plant names, names for devices, Work processes, festivals and customs).

In Hamburg, Heinrich Teut joined Low German associations at a young age. a. the “General Low German Association”, in whose bi-monthly magazine “ De Eekbom ” he published numerous Low German works. In 1896 he became an active member of the " Association for Low German Language Research ". The friendship with Prof. Dr. Conrad Borchling , the director of the seminar for Low German Philology at the University of Hamburg, who was also particularly interested in the problems of writing and language formation and in the vocabulary of Low German. The fortunate addition of the two men in theory and practice led to a fruitful collaboration, which continued into the exercises at the university. The lively exchange of ideas continued even after Teut had retired and was able to devote himself even more intensively to work on the Low German language. After several years in his forest house near Nieperfitz in der Göhrde , where Prof. Borchling visited him many times, Heinrich Teut finally returned to Hamburg to live in Rissen near his daughter and her family.

Writer and poet

In addition to linguistic research, Heinrich Teut was a versatile Low German writer and poet. At the beginning of 1895 Gustav Fock's publishing house in Leipzig brought out the small volume “Krut” (herb), “Rimels van plattdütsch Sprak un Art”. When asked about the title, he answered in the foreword, which is written in Low German, something like this: One day he went to the Elbe dike with his grandfather and asked for the names of the flowers growing there. Grandfather, a farmer of old grist and grain, replied: "Dat is Krut". When he was told that there were also flowers between the herbs, Grandfather replied: “Blom'n don't sin, Blom'n is in a yarn; dit het wi Krut. ”This“ debut ”received many good reviews from all over Low German, but some also took offense at the slightly different spelling of some words. Perhaps that was the reason why Heinrich Teut later campaigned so emphatically for a uniform Low German spelling, because in 1919 he was involved in drawing up the Lübeck guidelines for the creation of uniform spelling, which the Low German Volksgill in Lübeck encouraged would have.

After "Krut" he did not publish a Low German book for more than twenty years, apart from the numerous articles mentioned in the magazine "De Eekbom". In his free time he devoted himself primarily to specialist literature for postal workers. His "Handbook for Post Office Managers" achieved a remarkable seven editions and his "Information Giver for Post Office Officials" two editions. In addition, he wrote a specialist book "The technical telegraph service". All of these books have had tremendous success, but this kind of after-work activity may have replaced some literary ambitions.

Around twenty-six years after the collection of poems “Krut”, Heinrich Teut published “De Reis' na Hamborg” in 1921 and 1924, then in 1922 the volume of poems “Spör” and in 1925 his edition of the Frithjof saga, translated from Swedish into Low German verse. The volume of poetry "Spör" received a lot of recognition. The words of Gustav Falke may stand in for the many encouraging letters : “… I own a large number of books, and I have a small selection of them at hand. These are the books I prefer to everyone else. I will add your collection of poems to these ... ”.

In 1939 and 1949 the Mahnke-Verlag in Verden brought out the two one-act plays "De Bessenproov" and "Achterüm" as part of its publishing program for Low German stage plays. The other manuscripts with poems and stories, as Heinrich Teut wrote in 1958 in a short description of his life, such as "'Ropen Rüümd", "Ut Höörn un Öörn", "Op't Olendeel", "Straatenströmers", "Seemeeschen", " Verrękent ”,“ Spraakhöörn ”stayed in the drawer. Also unpublished are a manuscript of the Gudrun saga, which has been reworked into a Low German drama, and the also Low German play “Vörlaat”. However, many of his Low German poems and stories have been published in newspapers and magazines, calendars and yearbooks. And in 1961 the Freudenthal Society in Rotenburg / Hann . in his honor a selection of his most remarkable stories in a booklet “Van Heven un Kleven”.

Low German dictionaries

Teut's dictionaries have achieved great scientific importance and a corresponding evaluation as the result of his tireless collecting activity, which he carried out with great thoroughness and care. He had already been in retirement for a few years and had intensively worked on a High German-Low German dictionary, which gives true Low German words corresponding to around 10,000 High German keywords. It was intended for friends, especially writers of the Low German language, to whom the good Low German word for a High German expression “utnei't is or if he öberall nich nich nich almost sidd sidd” (Teut). In 1931 this dictionary appeared in the publishing house of the “Allgemeine Plattdeutsche Verband eV” in Hamburg, which soon served as an indispensable aid for the work in the seminar of Professor Borchling (who died in 1948).

Heinrich Teut's real life's work, however, was the “Hadeler Dictionary”, which represents the exemplary achievement of a single researcher in the field of Low German dictionary work. It is a reliable archive and a rich treasure trove for every friend of the Low German language and folklore. The work is at the suggestion of Professor Dr. William Foerste , director of the seminar for Low German and Dutch philology at the University of Münster , published by Wachholtz Verlag , Neumünster in four volumes with around 2400 pages and received a lot of attention. Heinrich Teut describes the development story in simple words in the foreword: “My mother, who was born in Hadler, had a very good command of Hadel's Low German and only spoke Low German with friends. Every year we spent the summer holidays with relatives in the country of Hadeln. So it came about that I always kept the Hadler dialect fresh in my mind. At first I collected from memory and later occasionally from visits to my mother and relatives. I always carried a paperback with me, in which I would write down uncommon words and phrases when I remembered them or when I heard them. Later I went on several trips a year through the parishes of my home country. I had a number of employees in each parish. In addition to the staff, many residents in all parishes, mainly craftsmen, helped me. I have often visited and asked her questions. What one didn't know, I found out from another. "

Honors

The extraordinary work of Heinrich Teut received a very special recognition. On November 25, 1958, the director of the Department of Low German and Dutch Philology at the University of Münster, Professor Dr. William Foerste, by unanimous decision of the philological faculty, earned the 90-year-old linguist and poet the certificate of doctorate for Dr. phil. hc

Further honors:

• Honorary membership of the Stader Geschichts- und Heimatverein , which has paid tribute to the person Heinrich Teut and his diverse work in its periodically published "Mitteilungen"
• Corresponding member of the Heimatbund “ Die Männer vom Morgenstern ”, to which he has belonged for decades.
• Corresponding member of the "Austrian Peat Research Institute" International Peat Museum, Bad Neydharting from June 2, 1959.

Works

• Krut. Rimels van plattdüütsch Sprak un Art. - Leizpzig: Verlag von Gustav Fock, 1895, - 124 pp.
• De Reis' na Hamborg. Teut, Heinrich; Vries, Berend de; Siefkes, Wilhelmine; Ruseler, Georg. - Wilhelmshaven: Friesen-Verlag Ad. Heine, 1921. - 82 pp.
• Spör. Plattdüütsche poems. - Bremen-Wilhelmshaven: Friesen-Verlag AG, 1922. - 110 pp.
• De Reis' na Hamborg. - 1st - 5th thousand - Bremen: Friesen-Verlag, 1924. - 56 pp.
• De Frithjofsåg. Tegnér, Esaias; Teut, Heinrich [transl.] - Ut't Swedsche in't Plattdüütsche oeberdiegen. - Eekbom-Verlag, Hamburg, 1925. - 131 pp.
• High German-Low German dictionary. Written by Heinrich Teut. - Hamburg: Verlag des Allgemeine Plattdeutschen Verband eV, 1931. - 106 pp.
• De Bessenproov. A funny little piece in one slide - Verden / Aller: Verlag Karl Mahnke, 1939. - 22. S.
• Figure eight. An additional show in one go. - Verden / Aller: Karl Mahnke Theaterverlag, 1949. - 20th p.
• Hadeler dictionary: The Low German vocabulary of the country Hadeln (Niederelbe) - Vol. 1. A - F. - Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1959. - 610 pp.
• Hadeler dictionary: The Low German vocabulary of the country Hadeln (Niederelbe) - Vol. 2. G - K. - Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1959. - 507 pp.
• Hadel dictionary: The Low German vocabulary of the state of Hadeln (Niederelbe) - Vol. 3. L - R. - Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1959. - 499 pp.
• Hadel dictionary: The Low German vocabulary of the state of Hadeln (Niederelbe) - Vol. 4. S - Z. - Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz Verlag, 1959. - 702 pp.
• Van Heven and Kleven. - Rotenburg / Han .: Freudenthal-Gesellschaft eV, 1961- 80 pp.

Unpublished manuscripts

• Ropen Rüümd. - Plattdüütsche Dichtels in Haadler dialect - 1960
• Spoer. - Twete ​​verbęterte Oplaag '
• Spöör op'n way. - Twete ​​Oplaag '
• Gudrun. - Dat Epos as Schauspill in söß Optög '. - 1950?
• Stratenströmers. - Plattdüütsche Rimelreen in Haadler Mundaart - 1939
• Sea ash. - Utwahl ut de Dichtels
• Vörlaat. - Folk play in veer Stręmels
• Spraakhöörn. - 1937-1940
• Op't Olendeel. - Plattdüsche Dichtels
• Verrękent. - En Vertelln in Haadler Plattdüütsch
• Ut Höörn and Öörn. - Plattdüütsche Dichtels in Haadler dialect
• PlattdüütscheSprökels and Snackwisen
• Plattdüütsche Plantennaams ut Land Hadeln.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Prof. Conrad Borchling "A life for the mother tongue" In: '' Hamburger Tageblatt January 20, 1943 ''
2. ^ Article by Georg Beermann in volume 2, 38th year, April 15, 1963
3. ↑ .Dr.Dr. Werner Panzer "A life in the service of the Low German" In: '' Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt '' No. 101 in May 1958, bulletin of the "Men from the Morning Star" Heimatbund an Elb- und Wesermündung eV; No. 166 from October 1963