Friedrich David Gräter (1768 – 1830) was one of the founders of the field of

Scandinavian studies Scandinavian studies is an interdisciplinary academic field of area studies, mainly in the United States and Germany, that primarily focuses on the Scandinavian languages (also known as North Germanic languages) and cultural studies pertaining to ...

and

Germanic philology Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

in Germany. A native of

Schwäbisch Hall Schwäbisch Hall (; "Swabian Hall"; from 1802 until 1934 and colloquially: ''Hall'' ) is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg located in the valley of the Kocher river, the longest tributary (together with its headwater Lein) of the ...

, Gräter studied theology, philosophy, and philology in Halle and

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

. He worked as a gymnasium teacher of Greek and Hebrew in Schwäbisch Hall from 1804 as rector. He was a member of

Pegnesischer Blumenorden The (English: Pegnitz Flower Society; Latin: ; abbr. P.Bl.O.) is a German literary society that was founded in Nuremberg in 1644. It is the sole Baroque literary society that remains active today. The name derived from the river Pegnitz, which f ...

from 1781 and member of the Berlin

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

from 1792. He married Christiane Spittler in 1799. They had no children and divorced in 1803. In 1805, Gräter married Maria Elisabetha, née Hofmann, widowed Seiferheld und Haspel, with whom he had a daughter. In 1818, he became rector of the gymnasium at

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

. He retired in 1826 and moved to

Schorndorf Schorndorf is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located approximately 26 km east of Stuttgart. Its train station is the terminus of the S2 line of the Stuttgart S-Bahn. The town is also sometimes referred to as ' (''The Daimler Town ...

. Gräter was among the first scholars to systematically approach old German and Scandinavian philology in the 1780s and 1790s. He published an anthology of Old Norse poetry in 1789 (''Nordische Blumen''). He was the editor of the journals ''Bragur'' and ''Idunna und Hermode''. He bitterly criticized the

Romanticist Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

character of the early publications of the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

. The enmity between Gräter and the Grimms contributed to a systematic suppression of Gräter's achievements in the earlier history of the field; in the opinion of Heinrichs (1986), the Grimms "all but succeeded in suppressing the founder of scholarly Nordic studies in Germany.""Es ist den Brüdern Grimm fast gelungen, den Begründer der wissenschaftlichen Nordistik in Deutschland totzuschweigen" Heinrichs (1986).

References

* Anne Heinrichs, "Die Brüder Grimm versus Friedrich David Gräter – ein fatales Zerwürfnis" in: ''Württembergisch Franken'' 70 (1986), 19–34. * Dieter Narr, "Friedrich David Gräter und sein Beitrag zur Volkskunde" in Narr (ed.), '' Studien zur Spätaufklärung im deutschen Südwesten'' (1979), 379–403. * I. Schwarz, ''Friedrich David Gräter'' (1935). * ''Friedrich David Gräter'' (''Württembergisch Franken'' 52), Schwäbisch Hall (1968). * Hans Dieter Haller, "Friedrich David Gräter (1768 bis 1830)", in: ''Pegasus auf dem Land – Schriftsteller in Hohenlohe'' (2006), 154–159. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grater, Friedrich David German philologists Germanists Germanic studies scholars 1768 births 1830 deaths People from Schwäbisch Hall