Sebastian Helber

Sebastian Helber (* around 1530; † around 1598) was a schoolmaster and imperial notary in Freiburg im Breisgau and the author of a textbook for " common Teutsch ".

Only sparse information is available about his life. According to the archives of the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Sebastian Helber, first mentioned in 1580, was the schoolmaster of the German boys' school for 16 years and also “Keizerischer Notary” . From this city he was also commissioned to reform the school curriculum and in the course of this work he wrote his best-known work, "Teutsches Syllabierbüchlein" , which was printed in 1593 in Freiburg in Üechtland .

German syllabary booklet

This work is characterized above all by the fact that Helber did not attempt to set up any artificially created uniform grammar and pronunciation rules for the Gemaine Teutsch, but rather describes in detail the differences between the various early New High German writing regions. In his classification, he first differentiates all continental West Germanic idioms into four writing regions, these are:

• the Cölnish and Gülich (by which he means the Ripuarian )
• the Saxon (by which he means Lower Saxon or Low German)
• the Flammisch or Brabantische (by which he means the Lower Franconian or Dutch)
• the Ober- or Hochteutsche (by which he means Upper German )

The Upper German language, which he describes as his mother tongue, is further divided into three different writing regions, namely:

• the Mitter-Teutsche ( Middle German )
• the Donawische (Austria, Bavaria, Swabia)
• the Höchst-Reinische (Switzerland, Alemannic on the Upper Rhine)

Sebastian Helber came to this classification through the linguistic analysis of numerous printed works, whereby he examined above all the different mono- and diphthongs. Since there was no supraregional standard language at that time, however, his phonographic division of the printed language largely corresponds to the large dialectical regions in the spoken language that still exist today, whereby he still naturally combines German and Dutch as Teutsch and thus uses it synonymously with today's specialist term continental western Germanic .

In his own words he describes his subdivision as follows (quoted from Johann Christoph Gottsched , 1748):

I know four German languages ​​in which Teutsche books are printed, the Cölnish and Gülich, the Saxon, the Flemish or Brabant, and the Upper or Upper German ... Our common High German is printed in three ways: we would like to name one the Mitter-Teutsche, the other the Donawische, the third Höchst-Reinisch; because the Oberland is no longer cracked. The printers, as the Mittern Teutschen pronounced, as if they were concerned with the diphthongs ai, ei, au, etc., kept those from Meinz, Speier, Frankfurt, Würzburg, Heidelberg, Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Leipsig, Erdfurt and others also those of Cölen volgen when they produce the upper German. All of the Donawische in the old Bavarian and Swabian lands, the Rhine vnberürt. (Old Bavarians are those who were princes in the past, namely the present Herzogthumb Beieren, East or Austria, not and whether the Enns, Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Carniola, Saltzburgerland, including the Amberg or Obernpfaltz, with their approaches. ) Ultimately, very Reinische, who kept in print just a few years ago, the language of the Swiss, or Schweitzer, the Valais, and quite a few people who sat down at Costanz, Chur and Basel.

In 1882 only one complete copy (namely the copy from Gottsched's library) and one incomplete copy of the “Syllabary Book” were known. The book was given an annotated new edition in 1882.

Evaluation of posterity

During Sebastian Helber's lifetime, there was still no urge to construct a supra-regional and uniform German language, driven by practical or nationalistic motives. Although this development was initiated by Martin Luther's translation of the Bible, it only began to intensify in the later 17th century. It was not until the time of Johann Christoph Gottsched that there was a supraregional standard High German that had replaced all other varieties. It is therefore not surprising that Gottsched wrote about Helber:

What was in vogue at that time, after all these dialects of High German for different types of writing, is funny to read, even to see now and then in old books. Thank God! that this dichotomy has gradually lifted. Both the Danube landscapes and even those on the Upper Rhine, itzo compete to get closer and closer to the above-mentioned Middle Germans in their spelling. (Johann Christoph Gottsched, Sprachkunst, 1748)

Johann Christoph Adelung and Andreas Dominikus Zaupser , who referred to him, took over the classification of High German from Helber and combined Bavarian with Austrian as the Danube language .

Works

• German || Syllabus booklet, || Namely || Printed Hochteütscher spoke || Reading skills: || Sambt erzeelung their words, in wavy || after different usage three kinds of printings || and pronunciations, Ai, Ei, Au, Ou, || Eu, Eü, to be found. || By || Sebastian Helber, Keizerischen Notaries || to Freiburg im Breißgew ... || Edition designation: Printed to Freiburg in Vchtland, || by Abraham Gemperle. || Anno MD VIIC. || (VD16 H 1549)
• Sebastian Helbers Teutsches Syllabierbüchlein ; ed. by Gustav Roethe, Akad. Verl.-Buchh. von Mohr: Freiburg im Breisgau and Tübingen 1882 (annotated new edition of the original from 1593). On-line

literature

• Stefan Höchli: On the history of punctuation in German: A critical presentation ... , de Gruyter 1981, ISBN 3-11-008473-2 ; on Sebastian Helber: Chapter 11, p. 72 ff. Online
• Irmengard Rauch, Gerald F. Carr, Robert L. Kyes: On Germanic Linguistics ; de Gruyter 1992, ISBN 3-11-013000-9 ; on Sebastian Helber: Chapter 2.4., p. 235 f. On-line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The distinction between the two cities named Freiburg already in the title of the work from 1593.
2. ^ Johann Christoph Gottsched: Sprachkunst, I. Part, II. Hauptstück ; quoted from Selected Works. By Johann Christoph Gottsched, Phillip Marshall Mitchell, Herbert Penzl, see Google Books, p. 104
3. ↑ Andreas Dominikus Zaupser: Attempt of a Baierischen and Oberpfälzischen idioticon . Munich: Joseph Lentner, 1789. Online