Friedrich Maurer (linguist): Difference between revisions

{{refimprovemore citations needed|date=July 2012}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|01|05|df=y}}

| birth_place = [[Lindenfels]], [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], [[German Empire]]<br>{{small|(now Lindenfels, Hesse, Germany)}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1984|11|07|1898|01|05|df=y}}

| death_place = [[Merzhausen]], [[Baden-Württemberg]], [[Federal Republic of Germany]]

[[Image:Einteilung der Germanen nach Maurer.de.svg|thumb|Maurer's classification of German dialectstribes (German)]]

Maurer studiedstarted to study [[classical philology]] and [[comparative linguistics]] at the [[Goethe University Frankfurt|University of Frankfurt]], startingin 1916. The same year, he was [[Conscriptionconscription|drafted]], and in 1917, he was gravely injured while he was fighting at the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of [[World War I]],<ref name="NDB"/> causing him to spend the following period recovering in a military hospital at [[Heidelberg]]. After the warend hadof endedthe war, Maurer commenced full-time studies of [[German studies|Germanistics]] at [[Heidelberg University]] (1918) and [[University of Giessen|Giessen]] (1919), where he also took courses in [[classical philology]] and [[Indo-European studies]]. Both at Heidelberg and at Giessen, Maurer was a member of the local chapters of the [[Wingolf]].

In 1922, Maurer obtained a doctorate under the supervision of [[Otto Behaghel]] in 1922, who was to have a lasting influence on Maurer's work. HeMaurer then obtained a [[habilitation]] in German philology in 1925, becoming [[Professor#Germany.2C_Poland2C Poland.2C_etc2C etc|professor extraordinarius]] in 1929, still at Giessen, and subsequentlylater professor ordinarius at [[University of Erlangen-Nuremberg|Erlangen]] (1931).

Having previously been a member of ''[[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Der Stahlhelm]]'', Maurer joined the ''[[Sturmabteilung|SA]]'' after the Nazi ''party [[Machtergreifung|took control]]'' of Germany in 1933, but left the organisation in 1935.<ref name=Hutton>{{cite book

He joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1937,<ref name=Hutton/> as well as the [[National Socialist Teachers League|NS Teachers League]], the [[National Socialist German Lecturers League|NS-Dozentenbund]] and the [[Nationalsozialistischer Altherrenbund|NS-Altherrenbund]]. In the same year, he became a full professor at [[University of Freiburg|Freiburg]], where he was to chair the Institute for German Philology until [[Emeritus|retiring]] in 1966. From 1938/1939, Maurer worked with the [[Ahnenerbe]].<ref>{{cite book

After [[World War II]], the [[Allied-occupied Germany|allied military government of Germany]] called on Maurer, who then founded scientific institutes at the partially -destroyed University of Freiburg and the University of Erlangen. In 1958 and 1959, Maurer chaired the League of German Scholars and co-foundedcofounded the [[Leibniz Institute for the German Language| Institute for the German Language]] (''Institut für Deutsche Sprache'', IDS) at [[Mannheim]].

In 1979, Maurer fell gravely ill and had to cease his work.<ref name="NDB">{{cite bookencyclopedia

| title=NeueMaurer, Deutsche BiographieFriedrich

| url=http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/~db/0001/bsb00016334/image_453images/index.html?id=00016334&seite=451

}}</ref> He died in 1984.

Like thisBehaghel, his thesis supervisor Otto Behaghel, Maurer directed much attention to the study of [[dialect]]s ([[dialectology]] and dialect geography), asand well asto the [[comparative linguistics]] of [[German language|German]]. He published numerous works on [[medieval literature]] and [[Medievalmedieval poetry|poetry]], whichthat were notable for thetheir connections they contained between literature studies, [[cultural history]], [[prehistory|prehistoric]] [[archaeology]] and [[sociology]]. With [[Friedrich Stroh]], Maurer published the ''Deutsche Wortgeschichte'' ("History of German wordsWords") in 1943.

Maurer's 1942 linguistic work ''Nordgermanen und AlemanenAlemannen'' ("Northern [[Germanic peoples|Germans]] and [[Alemanni]]") is considered his most important. In this workone, Maurerwhere putshe put forth a theory of the development of the Germanic languages, that was strongly imbued with [[Nationalism|nationalist]] [[ideology]], by hypothesizing a strong union of the Germanic peoples in antiquity; thea theory that is still controversial to this day. He especiallysought to construct a conception of the [[West Germanic languages]] as precursors to modernModern German. Against the common tripartite division of Germanic into [[North Germanic languages|North]], [[East Germanic languages|East]] and West Germanic languages, he posited a five-foldfivefold division into North Germanic (Scandinavia), [[Ingaevones|North Sea Germanic]] (Saxon, Frisian, etc.), [[Rhein-WeserWeser–Rhine Germanic]] ([[Cherusci]], [[Chatti]], later [[Franks]]), [[Elbe Germanic]] ([[Suebi]], [[Marcomanni]], [[Lombards]], later Alemanni) and [[East Germanic languages|Oder-Weichsel Germanic]] ([[Vandals]], [[Burgundians]], [[Goths]]). ThisThe theory was supported mainly supported by [[Tacitus]] and [[Pliny the Elder]], and especially the latter's observation in the ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' thatof there arebeing ''Germanorum genera quinque'', i.e.: "five kinds of Germans".<ref>Pliny, ''Nat. Hist.'' [[s:la:Naturalis Historia/Liber IV#.5B99.5D|IV, 99]].</ref>

* Friedrich Maurer (1942),. ''Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde'', Strasbourg: Hünenburg.

[[Category:German militaryArmy personnel of World War I]]

[[Category:UniversityLinguists of Erlangen-NurembergGermanic facultylanguages]]

[[Category:UniversityGermanic ofstudies Freiburg facultyscholars]]

[[Category:UniversityAcademic staff of Giessenthe University of facultyErlangen-Nuremberg]]

[[Category:NazisNorth Sea Germanic]]