Grimm
Grimm names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Grimm Jacob and Wilhelm
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
Jacob and Wilhelm, German philologists, writers, and university professors. Jacob, the older, lived 1785-1863. Wilhelm lived 1786-1859. Throughout their lives they were inseparable, and are spoken of as the Brothers Grimm. Wilhelm was married. Jacob remained single and lived with his brother. With five other professors they were expelled from the faculty of the university of Gottingen in 1837 for teaching that the elector of Hanover was exceeding his constitutional authority. The brothers united in making a popular collection of fairy tales known as Kinder und Haus Marchen. Wilhelm was a cheery, social man; Jacob was a renowned student of the German language. He left a German grammar and a German dictionary incomplete. The rule relative to consonant changes, known as Grimm's Law, was published by him. According to this law, the t of the Latin becomes th in Low German, including English, and d in high German. In support of this statement we find that the singular pronoun of the second person is tu, thou, and du in Latin, English, and German respectively. P undergoes similar changes. The pater of Latin becomes father in English and vater in German. according to Grimm's Law, which covers other letters as well, one would know from a Latin word what form to expect in English and in German; and conversely, from an English or German word what to expect in the other two languages. The cause for the changes in the consonantal sounds as the word traveled from Italy northward are not understood. They may be due to change in climate, causing people to keep their mouths closed, or to some other reason of that sort.
Grimm JAKOB, a German philologist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JAKOB, a German philologist; born in Hanau, Hesse-Cassel, Jan. 4, 1785. He was educated at the University of Marburg, and in 1805 spent some months at Paris as assistant to Savigny. Three years later he was appointed librarian to Jérome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. On the overthrow of the new kingdom of Westphalia, in 1813, he was made secretary of legation under the restored electorate, and in that capacity was present at the Congress of Vienna. He held the office of sub-librarian to the elector from 1816 till 1829, his younger brother, Wilhelm, being also employed in the library. In the latter year he became first librarian to the University of Göttingen, which post, with a professorship, he held till 1837. In that year he was dismissed, as was also his brother, from his similar office, for protesting against the violation of the constitution of the King of Hanover. In 1841 they both settled in Berlin, as professors in the university, and members. of the Academy of Sciences, where they were commonly known as the Brothers Grimm. Under that name also they have a certain immortality in the affections of the children of the civilized world. Jakob wrote: "German Gram-
Grimm WILHELM, a German philologist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILHELM, a German philologist, brother of the preceding; born in Hanau, Hesse-Cassel, Feb. 24, 1786. For the facts of his life, see GRIMM, JAKOB. He edited many old German texts, and collaborated with his brother Jakob in several of his works. His own most important book is "German Heroic Legends" (1829). His "Minor Writings" (1881-1886) contain an autobiography. He died in Berlin, Dec. 16, 1859.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The scholarship has moved a long way, though the biographies stand. Aiton's Encyclopedia in 1910 admitted the cause of the consonant shifts "are not understood" and floated climate — people keeping their mouths closed — as an explanation; that idea is long dead, and while linguists now describe the Germanic shift far more precisely (Karl Verner had already explained its apparent exceptions by accent in 1876), there is still no agreed cause, and Rasmus Rask is now credited alongside Jacob for the sound correspondences. The German dictionary Aiton's called "incomplete" was finally finished in 1961, over 120 years after Jacob began it, and a fresh revision of the early volumes has been running since. Modern folklore study has also changed how the fairy tales are read: the brothers' informants were largely educated middle-class acquaintances rather than peasants, and Wilhelm rewrote the stories heavily across seven editions between 1812 and 1857 — a first edition now on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
Written for this edition, 2026.