Teutonic Mythology Vol. 1

Teutonic Mythology #1

by Jacob Grimm, James Steven Stallybrass (Translation)

In this brilliantly informative masterwork, the great scholar Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) compiled and organized a vast amount of information on ancient rites, beliefs, deities, heroes, literature, statuary, temples, and much more, including the survival of the old gods and customs in modern place names, superstitions, games, idiomatic expressions, characters, and events in folk tales. The four-volume set
VOLUME Introduction; God; Worship; Priests; Gods; Wuotan; Wôdan; Donar; Thunar; Zio; Frô (Freyr); Balder; Phol; Other Gods; Goddesses; Conditions of Gods; Heroes; Wise-women.
VOLUME Wights and Elves; Giants; Creation; Elements; Trees and Animals; Sky and Stars; Day and Night; Summer and Winter; Time and World; Souls; Death; Destiny and Well-being; Personifications.
VOLUME Poetry; Spectres; Translation; Devil; Magic; Superstitions; Sicknesses; Herbs and Stones; Spells and Charms.
VOLUME Supplement (collected from Grimm's posthumous notes) to the text and the the author's Preface in Volume III; Appendix by the author; Anglo-Saxon Genealogies; Superstitions; Spells; Index.
The most exhaustive compendiums of Germanic and Norse mythology and a milestone in the study of comparative mythology and religion, Teutonic Mythology still remains the definitive basis for research into the field. It is indispensable for students and scholars of folklore, cultural history, and literature.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction, History, Paganism, Religion, Classics

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1835

About the author

German philologist and folklorist Jakob Ludwig Karl Grimm in 1822 formulated Grimm's Law, the basis for much of modern comparative linguistics. With his brother Wilhelm Karl Grimm (1786-1859), he collected Germanic folk tales and published them as Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812-1815).

Indo-European stop consonants, represented in Germanic, underwent the regular changes that Grimm's Law describes; this law essentially states that Indo-European p shifted to Germanic f, t shifted to th, and k shifted to h. Indo-European b shifted to Germanic p, d shifted to t, and g shifted to k. Indo-European bh shifted to Germanic b, dh shifted to d, and gh shifted to g.

This jurist and mythologist also authored the monumental German Dictionary and his Deutsche Mythologie .

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Othy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grimm's Teutonic Mythology is really difficult to describe, and even more difficult to give a rating to. His four volumes of texts are full of really interesting material, but it is so poorly organized that it's barely readable. Often one finds, for instance, references in either different formats or possibly even confused, or that the information introduced is only discussed after a few digressions. Grimm also uses various languages without translating them (of course, the intended audience probably knew all the languages used, but modern readers will find this difficult). One of the main complaints of the texts is that Grimm rarely gives interpretations, and even when he does they're generally linked by poor argumentation and little evidence.

In the end, if this were all actually organized it would be very interesting, as some of the data he has in here, both linguistic and cultural, is fascinating, but as it stands it's really a muddle.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a mythology book like you might have read as a kid, full of stories about various gods and goddesses. This is an academic book teasing out who they are and where they came from. There is a lot of Latin in here and a lot of German. The book is fine, once you know that. Fair warning though, this is an extremely difficult book to read on a Kindle or like device. The footnotes are not set apart so you know you’re reading a footnote. The end result is each section is like reading 3-4 books all at the same time.

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much how I love mythology sometimes I get confuse when there are foreign words whether they are part of the paragraph. Nevertheless it is a good reference for anyone who are in dire need to know more of Norse Mythology.

[G.A.Monster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grimm flows from English to Latin to Old High German(without being translated), which is necessary for his thesis but it makes the reading incredibly challenging. An important and worth while read if you want to take the time.