Rudolf Much

Rudolf Much ( born October 7, 1862 in Vienna, † March 8, 1936 ) was an Austrian germanistischer and skandinavistischer medievalist, philologist and scholar of religion. He was the son of archaeologist Matthäus Much and is considered one of the most important representatives of the so-called Germanic archeology and linguistics in the modern sense.

Life

Much studied at the University of Vienna Classical and German Philology, by his scientific mentor Richard Heinzel extended his range to Norse philology from. In this he received his doctorate in 1887 with a thesis "On the history of Germany." 1888 was followed by a study visit in Denmark at Copenhagen University and a research trip through the rest of Scandinavia (1904 was followed by an extended trip to the British Isles ). In addition to the philology studies in Vienna Much studied also in geography historian Wilhelm Tomaschek whose special interest in the tribal areas of the Germans, he shared, which is reflected in 1893 in his habilitation " German ancestral homes " with the instructor rating for Germanic Language History and Archaeology. In 1901 he was in Vienna only the title, with the obligation to teach about " Germanic and Celtic archeology as well as on Scandinavian languages ​​and literatures " " Ao Professor. "; then, in 1904, an extraordinary professorship for " Germanic language history and archeology ." To avert an appeal to Berlin he was appointed in 1906 professor of the newly established Chair of " Germanic linguistics History and Archaeology ", which was expanded in 1907 by adding " and Scandinavian ". The offer to move to Berlin would have except for a professorship at the University include the management of the local Museum of Ethnology. Although he did not accept this, ethnography remained a lifelong employment field for him. He held until his retirement in September 1934 this chair, he taught for health reasons as Emeritus on only two semesters.

Much came from a bourgeois Catholic national- conservative family and was married three times. His children were from his second marriage with Elisabeth, née Schmidt ( † 1926). As early as the period of study, he showed interest in the former large German aspirations Georg von Schönerer. Muchs German national sympathies were among other based on Senate records from the time the end of the 1920s, but even more so because he 1919 Member of geheimbündlerischen "German community" was that included in addition to the German national also Catholic circles ( Arthur Seyss -Inquart and Cardinal Friedrich Piffl ). Incidentally Much did his patriotic convictions no secret, and thus corresponded to the general attitude of the then faculty at the universities of Vienna and other large parts of German-speaking universities; only muchs anti-Catholicism - he converted in 1893 to the Evangelical Church marked its oddity, just had a membership in a political party with his conception of scientific neutrality and independence incompatible. The erupting in the early 1930s, political and ideological disputes and conflicts between the Christian- patriotic and the large German - national camp at the University of Vienna escaped Much of his retirement and only a short further teaching. His basic attitude was in 1931 at his opposition to the appointment of the Nazis Josef Nadler at the Vienna Institute Germanistic. He leaned Nadler not only due to its open orientation Catholic outright, but especially for the reason that he proved Nadler lack of critical scientific, and its proven for Much proximity to the Nazi ideology did not allow free votes. He also gave scathing reviews on unscientific and ideological publications Germanic, Germanic religion and mythology. The ideological rift did not stop before muchs family: was his third wife Cornelia (1880-1963), a follower of National Socialism, his son Dr. med Horand Much was executed in 1943 in Berlin for political reasons.

Work

Muchs work deals mainly with Germanic religious history and mythology, Germanic tribal history, language history, legal history and folklore. He always was also associated with the Old Icelandic - Scandinavian sources with one, which he also devoted special treatises ( songs of the Edda and Sagas ).

For Much these writings were primarily sources of speech and religion, history, literature and history aspect was less important for his work. He also gave to the older German literature hardly research, and if so, then it it will use them in ways as a source of language, geography, religion and mythology. As Karl Helm and others, he separated, in contrast to older research, a clear distinction between mythology and religion of the Teutons.

In the history of language, he conducted research particularly in the field of peoples names, but also in the border areas of linguistics and religious studies as well as the customer name in general. On behalf of the Customer field, he tended to cult documentary direction of etymology, the programmatic dealt with the interaction of words and their objective meaning. According to which he was co-editor of the journal " words and things ".

As a major work muchs considered to be significant commentary on the Germania of Tacitus, which remains valid even today and was published in 1937 posthumously. There are also important its 248 articles on John Hoops' " Lexicon of Germanic Antiquity " ( 1st edition ) that are now outdated and partly by the results of recent research.

He is buried in an honorary grave dedicated to the Baumgartner Cemetery (Group E, number 331) in Vienna.

Awards

Memberships:

• Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna (1912).
• Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich ( 1928).
• Academy of Sciences in Uppsala.
• Honorary President of the Anthropological Society in Vienna.
• Chairman of the Prehistoric Commission.
• Vice Chairman of the Commission for the Bavarian- Austrian Dictionary of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1911 ).

Works

• German ancestral homes - a contribution to Germany's oldest story. Niemeyer, Halle a S. 1892.
• The Southmarch the Germans. In: Contributions to the History of the German Language and Literature ( PBB) 17, 1893, pp. 1-136.
• The Germanic sky god. Niemeyer, Halle a S. 1898.
• German tribal customer. Goschen, Leipzig, Berlin ( among others ) in 1900.
• The name of Germanic tribes. Hölder, Vienna 1920.
• Baudihillia and Friagabis. In: Festschrift for Max Hermann Jellinek, Vienna - Leipzig 1928, pp. 75-85.
• The Germania of Tacitus, described by Rudolf Much; Winter, Heidelberg 1937, 3rd edition Editing by Wolfgang Lange and Herbert Jankuhn, 1967.