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XVI.—Gender-Change from Middle High German to Luther, as Seen in the 1545 Edition of the Bible

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Warren Washburn Florer
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Extract

The subject of the gender of substantives has in recent years occupied the attention of many scholars, and various theories dealing mostly with the origin of gender have been proposed. Benjamin Ide Wheeler in the Journal of Germanic Philology, Vol. II, 4, states plainly the fundamental points of the leading theories. The literature on the subject is also to be found there. A reference to this article will suffice. Victor Michels [Zum Wechsel des Nominalgeschlechts im Deutschen, Strassburg, 1889) discusses the main principles which are at work in bringing about gender-change in German. C. Bojunga in a Leipzig dissertation, in developing the principles which underly the shiftings in the substantive declension, reaches about the same results as Michel's, however in not so full or concise a manner. These treatises deal with the changes from the OHG. and MHG. to the NHG. period. Only occasional references are made to Luther's language.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , 1900 , pp. 442 - 491
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1900

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References

Note 1 in page 442 This article, parts of which were read at the meeting of the Central Division of the Modern Language Association at Nashville, Tenn., is intended as a contribution to the study of Luther's language.

Note 2 in page 442 Die Entwicklung der NHG. Substantivflexion u. s. w., Leipzig, 1890.

Note 3 in page 442 In the light of these treatises an introduction on my part is superfluous.

Note 4 in page 442 Vorschläge zur Revision von Dr. Martin Luthers Bibelüberselzung. Zweites Heft. Sprachlicher Theil, erste Abtheilung, Halle, 1862.

Note 5 in page 442 Before having this article in hand I made a similar detailed collection. I have checked Frommann's citations and have found them to be exact with but few exceptions.

Note 1 in page 443 Grundzüge der Schriftsprache Luthers, Görlitz, 1888.

Note 2 in page 443 These articles are found quoted in Michel's book.

Note 3 in page 443 Karl v. Bahder, Idg. F., iv, 353: “Am geklärtesten ist Luthers Sprache in der letzten Bibelausgabe von 1545; auf dies Werk ist auch die spätere Schriftsprache in erster Linie gegründet und jede Untersuchung, die Luthers Sprache in ihrer Bedeutung für die schriftsprachliche Entwicklung betrachtet, wird es zum Ausgangspunkt nehmen müssen.

Note 4 in page 443 Substantivflexion bei Martinus Luther (Bibelausgabe von 1545), Cornell Dissertation, 1897.

Note 1 in page 445 It is an interesting fact that the language in the Song of Solomon and in the apocryphal books is very irregular in comparison with the rest of the bible, both in the declension as well as in gender.

Note 1 in page 447 George Hempl, The Journal of Germanic Philology, Vol. ii, p. 100.

Note 1 in page 462 v. Bahder, Idg. F., iv, p. 355.

Note 1 in page 466 These stems then seem to form the stepping stone to the ultimate adoption of the -e plural by those neuter stems which do not pass over to the -er plural.

Note 1 in page 474 Stems ending in -tum. Reichtum MHG. richtuom m. is in K m. 20 x Esth. 1, 4; n. 6 x Spr. 22, 1. The neuter forms are due in part to associations: Spr. 22, 1 denn gross reichthum—–denn silber vnd gold——-1 Mk. 6, 1 das viel gold vnd silber vnd gros reichthum da war. The other stems with -tum, although showing but little change, are cited here for reference: irrtum MHG. irretuom m. remains m. Matth. 24, 24; eigentum MHG. eigentuom n. remains n. Job. 1, 11; heiligtum MHG. heiltuom n. remains n. 2 Mos. 25, 8—the plural heiligthüme occurs 3 x Hes. 21, 2; priestertum MHG.—is in n. 2 Mos. 29, 9; kaisertum MHG. keisertuom and magdtum MHG. magettuom mnf. are used only in doubtful cases: fürstentum MHG. fürstuom nm. is in n. 1 Chron. 6, 2—the plural fürstentüme, however, occurs 4 x Spr. 28, 2.

Note 1 in page 482 On account of the number of stems ending in -nis, and also on account of the various shiftings within the history of these steins, it seems best to treat them together.

Note 2 in page 482 The form -nüsse is found MHG. in nearly all the stems, however I will not cite this form.

Note 1 in page 487 Many of the irregularities are caused by associations.

Note 1 in page 488 The following abbreviations are used: Fr.=Franke; Fro. =Frommann; Boj. = Bojunga; Mich. =Michels, and refer to the books mentioned in the introduction. A word of explanation as to the system of references used may be in place. I have employed the usual German abbreviations of the biblical books. Further, I deem it necessary to cite only one example, unless particular associations occur. As in the expression, “aufruhr is in K f. 10 x Luk. 23, 19,” the x refers to the number of times the stem is f. in K, and Luk. 23, 19 is only a single reference. When the stem is regular I simply state the fact and do not cite the x. Again, it will be noticed that at times a stem is cited out of place, when the NHGr. usage is strictly followed, but this is merely to avoid unnecessary repetition. In citing MHG. I give generally only one form of the stem.