Hermann Güntert

Hermann Güntert (born November 5, 1886 in Worms , † April 23, 1948 in Heidelberg ) was a German linguist and religious historian .

biography

Güntert, who grew up as the son of a Catholic merchant and a Huguenot mother in Worms and attended the humanistic grammar school there, passed his Abitur in 1905 as the best student. He learned Sanskrit and Hebrew when he was still at school . Since 1905 he has been studying Classical Philology and German Philology for teaching at grammar schools at the University of Heidelberg , as well as Comparative Linguistics with Hermann Osthoff , a representative of the Young Grammar School , and with Christian Bartholomae Indo-Iranian . After his dissertation in Greek linguistics "On the history of Greek gradations", which appeared in the Indo-European Research in Strasbourg in 1909 , he studied for a semester in Leipzig as a Curtius Prize winner . In 1909 he passed the state examinations for German, Greek and Latin and was then a grammar school teacher in Heidelberg from 1909 to 1921, where he completed his habilitation in 1912/13 with a thesis on "Rhyming in Aryan and Ancient Greek" for the subject of Indo-European language and classical studies and in 1918 was appointed a non-official extraordinary professor. In 1921 he became a full professor for comparative linguistics at the University of Rostock as the successor to Gustav Herbig . In 1923 he married the professor's daughter Gisela Wachenfeld and bought a captain's house in Wustrow . In 1926 he became a full professor in Heidelberg as the successor to Christian Bartholomae. In 1931 he became a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . In 1933 he received a lectureship on German studies . Since 1938 he was editor of the magazine " Words and Things ". Since the spring of 1938 he had to reduce his teaching activities due to circulatory disorders. In 1939 he suffered a stroke. In 1940 he was only able to hold seminars privately . He retired in December 1945.

Güntert was chairman of the Association for Germanism Abroad (1930), a supporting member of the SS , member of the Reich Chamber of Literature , the National Socialist Teachers' Association and the NSDAP (1939). Arbitration proceedings against Güntert were discontinued in 1948.

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Güntert's linguistic interest was primarily in Indo-Iranian (Aryan), ancient Greek and Germanic. In addition to formal changes, he observed developments in the history of meaning with particular interest, which led him to a large extent to questions relating to the history of religion. His most extensive work, which he published during his time in Rostock, is the monograph Der Arische Weltkönig und Heiland with the subtitle: "Historical studies of the history of Indo-Iranian religion and antiquity".

Güntert was critical of the theses of Kossinna and his students on the origin of the Teutons . Güntert explained in The Origin of the Germanic Peoples of 1934 the Germanic sound shift from a union of an Indo-European conqueror class (" Streitaxtleuten ") with non- Indo-Germanic local farmers (" Megalithic culture ", now known as the funnel- cup culture ). According to Güntert, the changes in the volume of sounds resulted from the language of the peasants. The “mixed” descent of the Germanic peoples made Güntert responsible for the “ Faustian ”, that is, the split nature of “the Germanic man”. He also highlighted the connections between the oldest Indo-European and East Asian languages, especially Korean . He drew on the theories of his Heidelberg colleague, the prehistorian Ernst Wahle , and otherwise followed Otto Schrader ’s thesis of the origin of the Indo-European language in the southern Russian steppe. For his book on the origin of the Germanic peoples he added two verses from a poem by Ernst Bertram as the motto , in which it says "Time is to talk about the foolish madness /" The peoples are equal, so in value, in office. "/ Worse wisdom never ran out of fools ... ".

Güntert published a volume of poetry in 1933, Am Nornenquell . It was followed by other plays, collections of poetry and re-poetry of legends.

A commemorative publication on the 25th anniversary of his death was published in 1973.

Publications

• On the history of the Greek gradation , Strasbourg 1909 (= dissertation)
• About rhyming word formations in Aryan and ancient Greek , Heidelberg 1914.
• Indo-European ablaut problems. Investigations into Schwa secundum, a second Indo-European marble vowel , Strasbourg 1916.
• Calypso. Studies of the history of meaning in the field of Indo-European languages , Halle / Saale, Niemeyer 1919. Digitized
• From the language of gods and spirits. Studies of the history of meaning on the Homeric and Eddic language of the gods , Halle / Saale Niemeyer 1921. Digitized
• The Aryan world king and savior. Studies on the history of meaning on the Indo-Iranian religious history and antiquity , Halle / Saale 1923.
• Basic questions in linguistics , Leipzig 1925; 2nd edition Heidelberg 1956.
• On the question of the original home of the Indo-Europeans , in: Hans Teske (Hrsg.): Deutschkundliches. Friedrich Panzer presented on his 60th birthday , Heidelberg 1930, pp. 1–33.
• Labyrinth. A linguistic investigation , meeting reports of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Philological-historical class 1932/33, 1, Heidelberg 1932.
• Am Nornenquell (poems), 1933.
• The Origin of the Teutons , Culture and Language 9. Heidelberg, Carl Winters University Bookstore, 1934.
• The Faustian essence of the Germanic man. Volksgemeinschaft 4 (No. 99), 1934, pp. 7–31.
• The Germanic heritage in the German soul. Journal for German Studies 48/7, 1934, pp. 449–462.
• Runes, runic custom and runic inscriptions of the Germanic peoples. Oberdeutsche Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 8, 1934, 51–102.
• Old Germanic belief by nature and basis , Heidelberg 1937.
• History of the Germanic Nations . Meyer's little handbooks 27/28. Leipzig, Bibliographical Institute 1943.

literature

• Wolf H. Goegginger: Hermann Güntert as a researcher of religion . In: Numen 1967, pp. 150-158.
• Manfred Mayrhofer (Ed.): Antiquitates Indogermanicae. Studies on Indo-European antiquity and on the language and cultural history of the Indo-European peoples. Commemorative publication for Hermann Güntert on the 25th anniversary of his death on April 23, 1973 , Innsbruck 1974 (p. 523–528 list of publications).
• Rudolf Wachter, Amina Kropp: General and comparative linguistics. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Volker Sellin , Eike Wolgast (Eds.): The University of Heidelberg in National Socialism. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-540-21442-7 , pp. 371-389.
• Bruce Lincoln : Hermann Güntert in the 1930s. Heidelberg, Politics, and the Study of Germanic / Indogermanic Religion. In: Horst Junginger (Ed.): The Study of Religion under the Impact of Fascism. (= Numen Book Series , 117), Brill, Leiden / Boston 2008, ISBN 978-90-04-16326-3 , pp. 179-204.

Web links

• Literature by and about Hermann Güntert in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature about Hermann Güntert in the state bibliography MV
• Entry on Hermann Güntert in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
• Portrait of Hermann Güntert in the TITUS gallery
• Hermann Güntert's estate in the Heidelberg University Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast: The University of Heidelberg in National Socialism . Springer-Verlag 2006. p. 371
2. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast: The University of Heidelberg in National Socialism. Springer-Verlag 2006. p. 377
3. ↑ Wolf H. Gögginger, Hermann Güntert as a religion researcher. Numen 1967, 157
4. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast, Heidelberg University under National Socialism . Springer-Verlag 2006, 380
5. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast: The University of Heidelberg in National Socialism. Springer-Verlag 2006. p. 381
6. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast, Heidelberg University under National Socialism . Springer-Verlag 2006, 373
7. ^ ^{A b} Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast, Heidelberg University under National Socialism . Springer-Verlag 2006, 384
8. ↑ Hermann Güntert, The Origin of the Germanic Peoples. Heidelberg, Winter 1934, 97
9. ↑ The Faustian essence of the Germanic man. Volksgemeinschaft 4 (No. 99), 1934, pp. 7–31
10. ↑ On the question of the original home of the Indo-Europeans , in: Hans Teske (Ed.): Deutschkundliches. Friedrich Panzer presented on his 60th birthday , Heidelberg 1930, pp. 1–33
11. ^ Otto Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte, 2nd edition, Jena 1890
12. ^ Ernst A. Philippson, Prehistoric Race Studies and Germanic Religious History. Monthly books for German teaching 32/6 (1940), p. 260
13. ↑ Ernst Bertram, Das Nornenbuch . Leipzig, Insel-Verlag 1925
14. ^ Wolfgang Uwe Eckart, Volker Sellin, Eike Wolgast, Heidelberg University under National Socialism . Springer-Verlag 2006, 385
15. ↑ http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/allg/benutzen/bereich/pdf/HeidHs3764_Nachlass_Guentert.pdf
16. ↑ Manfred Mayrhofer (Ed.) Antiquitates Indogermanicae: Studies on Indo-German antiquity and on the language and cultural history of the Indo-European peoples; Commemorative writing for Hermann Güntert on the 25th anniversary of his death on April 23, 1973 . Innsbruck Contributions to Linguistics 12. Innsbruck 1973. ISBN 3-85124-520-2 , table of contents under http://d-nb.info/800758528/04