Lorenz Diefenbach
Encyclopedia
Georg Anton Lorenz Diefenbach (19 July 1806 in Ostheim
, Hesse
– 28 March 1883 in Darmstadt
) was a German
philologist and lexicographer, as well as a novelist associated with the German Nationalist movement
. By career he was a pastor
, like his father, and a librarian
.
. In 1848, he settled at Frankfurt am Main, where in 1865 he was appointed second librarian to the city.
In the twentieth century Diefenbach became best known through his popular novel Arbeit macht frei
, the title of which was later adopted as a slogan by various German and Austrian institutions, and most notoriously by the Nazis
. The novel was published in Bremen in 1873 (following a preprint in a Viennese newspaper the previous year). The main hero is a gambler and fraudster who, through regular employment, succeeds in regaining the path of virtue.
Diefenbach’s most enduring legacy lies in his numerous academic writings on philology and comparative linguistics, notably his studies in Latin, German dialects
and Celtic languages
. His lexicographical works, in particular his Latin-German glossaries
are still cited in scholarship today. Much of the content of his Glossarium Latino-Germanicum was incorporated into revised editions of the Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis. He also wrote poetry.
He became a member of the Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften
and was a friend of Jacob Grimm
.
Butzbach
Butzbach is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany. It is located approx. 16 km south of Gießen and 35 km north of Frankfurt am Main....
, Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
– 28 March 1883 in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
philologist and lexicographer, as well as a novelist associated with the German Nationalist movement
Pan-Germanism
Pan-Germanism is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland , where "German-speaking" was taken to include the Low German, Frisian and Dutch-speaking populations of the Low...
. By career he was a pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, like his father, and a librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
.
Biography
He was 12 years pastor and librarian at Solms-LaubachSolms-Laubach
Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was originally created as a partition of Solms-Lich. Solms-Laubach partitioned between itself and Solms-Sonnenwalde 1561; between itself, Solms-Baruth and Solms-Rödelheim 1607; and between itself and...
. In 1848, he settled at Frankfurt am Main, where in 1865 he was appointed second librarian to the city.
In the twentieth century Diefenbach became best known through his popular novel Arbeit macht frei
Arbeit macht frei
"'" is a German phrase, literally "work makes free," meaning "work sets you free" or "work liberates". The slogan is known for having been placed over the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, including most infamously Auschwitz I, where it was made by prisoners...
, the title of which was later adopted as a slogan by various German and Austrian institutions, and most notoriously by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. The novel was published in Bremen in 1873 (following a preprint in a Viennese newspaper the previous year). The main hero is a gambler and fraudster who, through regular employment, succeeds in regaining the path of virtue.
Diefenbach’s most enduring legacy lies in his numerous academic writings on philology and comparative linguistics, notably his studies in Latin, German dialects
German dialects
German dialect is dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant shift, and the dialect continuum that connects the German with the Dutch language.-German dialects in relation to varieties of standard German:...
and Celtic languages
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
. His lexicographical works, in particular his Latin-German glossaries
Glossary
A glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms...
are still cited in scholarship today. Much of the content of his Glossarium Latino-Germanicum was incorporated into revised editions of the Glossarium ad scriptores mediae et infimae latinitatis. He also wrote poetry.
He became a member of the Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften
Academy of Sciences
An Academy of Sciences is a national academy or another learned society dedicated to sciences.In non-English speaking countries, the range of academic fields of the members of a national Academy of Science often includes fields which would not normally be classed as "science" in English...
and was a friend of Jacob Grimm
Jacob Grimm
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm was a German philologist, jurist and mythologist. He is best known as the discoverer of Grimm's Law, the author of the monumental Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie and, more popularly, as one of the Brothers Grimm, as the editor of Grimm's Fairy...
.
Selected Works
- Celtica. Sprachliche Documente zur Geschichte der Kelten (Stuttgart 1839-40), 2 vols.
- Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache: Lexicon comparativum linguarum indogermanicarum. (Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der germanischen Sprachen: und ihrer sämtlichen Stammverwandten mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der romanischen, lithauisch-slavischen und keltischen Sprachen und mit Zuziehung der finnischen Familie) (Frankfurt am Main 1851), 2 vols.
- Glossarium Latino-Germanicum mediae et infimae aetatis (Frankfurt am Main 1857; repr. Darmstadt 1997)
- : mediae et infimae aetatis; Beiträge zur wissenschaftlichen Kunde der neulateinischen und der germanischen Sprachen (Frankfurt am Main 1867; repr. Aalen 1964)
Further reading
- Jürgen Storost, "Lorenz Diefenbach. Sein Beitrag zur Entwicklung der romanischen Sprachwissenschaft". In: Jürgen Storost, "In memoriam Vladimiro Macchi. Aspekte der Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Ausgewählte Sujets" (Bonn 2008), pp. 169–193