Deutsche Mythologie

German mythology is a book of German studies and folklorist Jacob Grimm. He tried here to reconstruct the mythology of the Germanic peoples about fairy tales, right antiquities and folk customs. "All say reason is the myth " the author claims. Although Sage is general and unsettled than the story, but have greater temporal depth (ibid. ). "Where distant events would have been lost in the dark of the time since tying his say with them and know one in part to entertain them where the myth is weakened and will fade away as the story for him is support. " From the interplay of myth and history arises then the epic. Grimm argues for an identity in the Nordic and German mythology.

The book is dedicated to the historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann. In his preface to Grimm thanks also to John Kemble and Wilhelm Wackernagel for their help.

Method

From the fact that the mythological tradition in Scandinavia is much richer than in Germany, you have the wrong concluded that in Germania no gods worship took place. To eradicate this false interpretation " I want to be see that I dared not by a presentation of the wealth Nordic rather the German poverty was ordered spiked starting not read sheaves allowed to cut only from such ears and their grains I have to win food and to draw conclusions, it is by all at special feature I hope the been quite respected. "So could the German tradition " invaluable insights into the context of his myths shatter thereby repay the richer North that older historical evidence it provides for the younger low enrollment at hand. "

As a source Grimm used traditions of Roman authors, legends of saints and folk tales. In the legends is indeed to be expected distortion, " the closer joints of the myth [ are ] bound ", but "the truth of the basic meaning may have preserved uncorrupted ".

Expenditure

• German mythology. Dieterich'sche bookstore, Göttingen 1835. ( Digitized )
• German Mythology, 2nd Edition. Volume 1 Dieterich'sche bookstore, Göttingen 1844. ( Digitized )
• Volume 2 Dieterich'sche bookstore, Göttingen 1844. ( Digitized )

• Volume 1 Dieterich'sche bookstore, Göttingen 1854. ( Digitized )
• Volume 2 Dieterich'sche bookstore, Göttingen 1854. ( Digitized )

• Volume 1 Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1875. ( Digitized )
• Volume 2 Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, 1876. ( Digitized )
• Volume 3, supplements and appendix. Ferdinand Dümmlers Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1878. ( Digitized )