Sigmund Feist (
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
, 12 June 1865 -
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, 23 March 1943) was a
German Jewish pedagogue and historical linguist. He was the author of the
Germanic substrate hypothesis as well as a number of important works concerning
Jewish ethnic and racial identity. Feist served as the director of the
Jewish Reichenheim Orphanage in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
from 1906 to 1935. In 1907 he became a member of the
Gesellschaft der Freunde society.
Feist emigrated to
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
in 1939 where he died four years later.
Correspondence with Jewish soldiers during World War I
As director of the Reichenheim Orphanage, Feist established and maintained close relationships with his wards, 77 of whom corresponded with him during their time of service in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The correspondence consists of 745 letters which Feist received between the years 1914 and 1918, and offers a glimpse into the lives of Jewish soldiers who served in World War I.
Several of the soldiers who wrote the letters later went on to attain notoriety in academic circles, an example being
Hermann Teuchert.
The collected correspondence has been archived in the
Centrum Judaicum of the
New Synagogue in Berlin since 1995. The letters were published as a collection in 2002.
Important works
Works in historical linguistics
* ''
Einführung in das Gotische'' (1922)
* ''
Etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache'' (1923)
* ''
Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gotischen Sprache mit Einschluss des Krimgotischen und sonstiger zerstreuter Überreste des Gotischen'' (1923)
* ''
Indogermanen und Germanen'' (1924)
* ''
Germanen und Kelten in der antiken Überlieferung'' (1925)
Works in Jewish history and ethnicity
* ''
Stammeskunde der Juden. Die jüdischen Stämme der Erde in alter und neuer Zeit. Historisch-anthropologische Skizzen.'' (1925)
* ''
Die Ethnographie der Juden'' (with
Lionel S. Reisz) (1926)
* ''
Rassenkunde des jüdischen Volkes'' (1930)
* ''
Ein Zeitgenosse Alexander des Großen über die Juden'' (?)
Referenced in
* Bibliography for Wulfila database: Feist, Sigmund. ''Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Gotischen Sprache Mit Einschluss des Krimgotischen und sonstiger zerstreuter Überreste des Gotischen.'' Dritte neubearbeitete und vermehrte Auflage
E. J. Brill Leiden 1939
* ''An Analysis of *z loss in West Germanic''
"Studying the Jew"* Listed in The
Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics
The ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', first published in 1994 (edited by Ronald E. Asher), with a 2nd edition in 2006 (edited by Keith Brown), is an encyclopedia of all matters related to language and linguistics.
Reception
The ''Jo ...
The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics Electronic Index
at www1.elsevier.com
Related literature
* Römer, Ruth: ''Sigmund Feist und die Gesellschaft fuer deutsche Philologie in Berlin''. In: Muttersprache 103 (1993), 28-40
* Römer, Ruth: ''Sigmund Feist: Deutscher – Germanist – Jude''. In: Muttersprache 91 (1981), 249-308.
Notes
External links
U. Maas, Verfolgung und Auswanderung deutschsprachiger Sprachforscher 1933 - 1945, Vol. 1, Tübingen 2010, s. v. Feist, Si(e)gmund Samuel
Otto's encyclopedia
List of some available works
Review of ''Feldpostbriefe jüdischer Soldaten 1914 –1918''
by Prof. Dr. Jörg Riecke (German)
Review of ''Feldpostbriefe jüdischer Soldaten 1914 –1918''
by Thea Koberstein (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Sigmund
19th-century German writers
19th-century German male writers
19th-century linguists
20th-century linguists
Linguists from Germany
Historical linguists
20th-century German educators
Jewish educators
Judaic scholars
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Denmark
Writers from Mainz
1865 births
1943 deaths
People from Rhenish Hesse