The Brothers Grimm were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German professors who
were best known for publishing collections of authentic folk tales and fairy tales, and for their work in linguistics, relating
to how the sounds in words shift over time.
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Karl Grimm were born in 1785 and
1786, respectively, in Hanau near Frankfurt. They were educated at the Friedrichs Gymnasium in Kassel and later both read
law at the University of Marburg.
The Brothers Grimm traveled widely throughout Germany and other countries, performing
field research for their linguistic work, which involved trying to find patterns in how the vowels and consonants which made
up specific words changed over time. To determine these patterns, they needed to hear many different examples of authentic
speech by various speakers of different ages and in different regions. They eventually discovered that one of the easiest
ways to convince older local residents to give them lengthy examples of their natural speech was to ask the residents to tell
their favorite stories to the brothers. As the Grimms Brothers recorded the style of speech of the speaker for their research
(which eventually led to the formulation of Grimm's Law), they also recorded the various stories that they were told, and
eventually published them in 1817.
The stories became immensely popular, and were widely reprinted. Ironically,
the brothers Grimm are now most widely known for these collections of stories, which were essentially an unexpected byproduct
of the linguistic research which was their primary goal.
Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (Hanau, January 4, 1785 —
Berlin, September 20, 1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist, was born at Hanau, in Hesse-Kassel. He is best known
as a recorder of fairy tales, one of the Brothers Grimm. Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm is the older of the Grimm Brothers and was
a prolific writer in many fields. He is best remembererd for some of the most memorable Fairy Tales ever written.
Works include Cinderella (Aschenputtel), Little Red Riding Hood (Rotkäppchen), Snow-White (Sneewittchen), Rumpelstiltskin(Rumpelstilzchen)
and many others.
Wilhelm Carl Grimm (February 24, 1786 – December 16, 1859) was a German author, the youngest
of the Brothers Grimm. He was born in Hanau, Germany and in 1803 he started studying law at the University of Marburg, one
year after his brother Jacob did the same.
In 1825 Wilhelm married Henriette Dorothea Wild, also known as Dortchen.
From 1837-1841 the Grimm Brothers joined five of their colleague professors
at the University of Göttingen to form a group known as the Göttingen Sieben (The Göttingen Seven). They protested
against Ernst August, King of Hanover, whom they accused of violating the constitution. All seven were fired by the king.
Individual works of Wilhelm Grimm
Altdänische Heldenlieder, Balladen und Märchen (Old Danish
Heroic Lays, Ballads, and Folktales) in 1811
Über deutsche Runen (On German Runes) in 1821.
Die deutsche Heldensage
(The German Heroic Legend) in 1829.
For these stories we give credit to Margaret Hunt (1831-1912), who's 1884 text
translation of Grimm's 'HouseHold Tales' is based on the last revised edition of the Grimms Fairy Tales.
Reference:
Wikipedia, July 2006
