Historical Figure
Jacob Grimm
1785–1863
German linguist, jurist and mythologist
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Biography
Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie, and the editor of Grimms' Fairy Tales. He was the older brother of Wilhelm Grimm; together, they were the literary duo known as the Brothers Grimm.
Timeline
The story of Jacob Grimm, told in moments.
Published the first volume of Grimm's Fairy Tales with Wilhelm. 86 stories collected from oral tradition. Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin. They presented them as folk research. Children found them anyway.
Published Deutsche Grammatik, establishing Grimm's Law. It showed systematic sound shifts between Germanic and other Indo-European languages. The "p" in Latin "pater" becomes "f" in English "father." He mapped the pattern.
Began work on the Deutsches Worterbuch, a comprehensive German dictionary. It was the German equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary. The brothers finished through the letter F. It wasn't completed until 1961.
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