Wilhelm Grimm
Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859) was a German philologist and folklorist who collected and published German folktales with his brother Jacob.
Jacob Grimm: Jacob Grimm (1785–1863) was a German philologist, folklorist, and Wilhelm Grimm’s elder brother and collaborator. Wilhelm’s lifelong scholarly and editorial partnership with Jacob produced their best-known collections.
Grimms' Fairy Tales: A collection of German folktales published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, first issued in 1812 and 1815. This is the work most closely associated with Wilhelm’s collecting and editing.
Folklore: Traditional expressive culture transmitted within communities, including stories, songs, customs, and beliefs. Wilhelm’s collecting belongs to the broader study and preservation of folklore.
Hanau: A city in Hesse, Germany, where Wilhelm Grimm was born in 1786. Wilhelm’s birthplace anchors the beginnings of his life and family history.
Grimm's law: A set of systematic sound correspondences between Proto-Indo-European and Germanic consonants, formulated by Jacob Grimm. It shows how the brothers’ scholarship also transformed historical linguistics, chiefly through Jacob’s work.
Clemens Brentano: Clemens Brentano (1778–1842) was a German poet and writer associated with Romanticism. Brentano’s request for folk songs helped prompt the Grimms to collect oral traditions.
German Dictionary: A historical dictionary of the German language begun by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1838. Wilhelm contributed to the brothers’ large-scale account of German words and their histories.
Oral tradition: The transmission of stories, knowledge, and practices through spoken communication across generations. Oral storytelling supplied some narratives that the Grimms recorded and published.
Marburg: A university city in Hesse, Germany, home to the University of Marburg. Wilhelm studied law there, where historical scholarship influenced his intellectual direction.
Folkloristics: The scholarly study of folklore, including traditional narratives, customs, and expressive culture. The Grimms’ collecting and comparative methods became foundational reference points for the discipline.