The University of Chicago
HERDER’S CONCEPTION OF
“DAS VOLK”
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY
OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOLS OF ARTS AND LITERATURE
IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF GERMANICS
BY
GEORGIANA R. SIMPSON
Private Edition, Distributed By
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARIES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
1921
Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF MY
FRIEND AND TEACHER
FRÄULEIN AGNES BURCHARD
OF
ROSTOCK, GERMANY
NOTE
I wish to express my sincere thanks to all my Professors, but especially
to Professors Starr W. Cutting, Martin Schütze, and Francis A. Wood,
under whom the major portion of my work in the Graduate School has been
pursued.
This particular study, however, is the outcome of interest awakened by
Professor Schütze while I was a member of his seminars.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to him, not only for his guidance in
this endeavor, but for the inspiration and encouragement which has come
to me from the very beginning of my work under him.
GEORGIANA R. SIMPSON
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. SEMASIOLOGY OF THE WORD, _Volk_—THE IDEA IN OTHER WORDS 1
II. CONCEPTIONS OF _Volk_ AS SEEN IN HERDER’S USE OF THE TERM 4
III. CONCEPTIONS OF _Volk_ AS GATHERED FROM HERDER’S COLLECTION OF
_Volkslieder_ 15
IV. CONCEPTIONS OF _Volk_ IN HERDER’S DISCUSSION OF “OSSIAN’S
PEOPLE” AND THE ANCIENT HEBREWS 22
V. FOUNDATIONS OF INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONALITY IN HERDER 31
VI. EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY THOUGHT IN HERDER’S CONCEPTION OF
_Das Volk_ 36
VII. CONCLUSION 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY 58
CHAPTER I
SEMASIOLOGY OF _VOLK_—THE IDEA IN OTHER WORDS
Before going directly to the main discussion of our theme, a background
is sought in a brief semasiological study of the word _Volk_. The word
is widespread in the Germanic languages; Gothic, however, offers no
examples. Among the earliest recorded Germanic forms are those in Old
English and in Old High German. Old English _folc_ meant people, common
people, multitude, a people, tribe, family, army:
“He sloh folces Denigea fyftyne men”—_Beowulf_.
“Folces hyrde”—_Beowulf_.
It was particularly used originally of a crowd of people. Skeat’s
_Etymological Dictionary_ suggests the possibility of its being related
to both flock and full.
Old High German _folc_ meant people, body of warriors, servants, crowd,
mass. The oldest meaning here suggests forces of war: _dhazs himiliscâ
folc_.
The word occurs in Old Frisian as _folk_; in Old Saxon, _folc_; and in
Old Norse, _folk_; with meanings equivalent to those found in Old High
German and Old English.
Kluge’s _Etymological Dictionary_ says that the meaning “division of an
army” seems to be the fundamental meaning of the family group, from which
Lithuanian _pulkas_, heap mass, Old Slavonic _plŭkŭ_, host of war, are
borrowed forms.
In Middle English the word took on the additional meaning of an
aggregation of people in relation to a superior; e.g., God, a king,
or priest; further it began to mean also the vulgar or lower classes,
this use easily rising out of the meaning “mass” or “the many.” Such
expressions occur as _beboden waes Godes folce_, _Folkes Mass Book_.
In Middle High German the meaning was people, hosts of war, army,
servants, subjects, multitude: _er das Volk gewan_ (_Gudrun_, 1162, 2).
In Modern English the word is chiefly colloquial, being superseded in
more formal use by “people.”
In numerous combinations (following German precedent) it has the sense of
pertaining to, current among, or existing among the masses of the people
or the common people. Such expressions as folk-belief, folk-custom,
folk-literature, folk-name, folk-song, and folk-speech are prevalent.
Modern High German has retained the word with nearly all of its
primitive meanings: _die schottischen Völker empören sich und drohen
abzuziehen_;[1] _Mein Volk zu mindern_;[2] _Was rennt das Volk?_;[3] _du
weisst, wir alten fahren, und ihr junges Volk reitet_;[4] _den Teufel
spürt das Völkchen nie_.[5]
The large number of compounds in which the word is used limit its
connotation to either “the masses” or “the common people”: _Volksbuch_,
_Volksdichter_, _Volksgeist_, _Volkslehrer_, _Volksschule_, etc. Kluge in
his _Etymological Dictionary_ says: “Connection with Latin _vulgus_ is
uncertain; for it is questionable whether the Latin word together with
the Germanic family group would come from an original _qelgos_, _qolgos_.”
Weigand, _Deutsches Wörterbuch_ says: “The earlier comparison with the
Latin, _volgus_, is not possible. Rather to be compared here are the word
_voll_ and roots related to the Greek πλῆθος.”
THE IDEA IN OTHER WORDS
The ideas conveyed by the fundamental meanings found in the word _Volk_
appear in other words and in various languages:
GREEK
πλῆθος—a great number, a throng, a crowd, multitude, especially
of people.
πολύς—properly of number, many; opposed to ὀλίγος.
οἱ πολλοί—the many; that is, the greater number.
ὄχλος—a moving crowd, a throng, irregular crowd, in a political
sense, the populace or mob, opposed to δῆμος.
γένος—race, stock, family, whether by blood or by nationality:
αἷμα τε καὶ γένος
―—a race in regard to number, γένος ἀνδρῶν, mankind.
φῦλον—a set of men or any living beings as naturally distinct
from others; a race or tribe; in a closer sense, a race of
people or a nation.
ἔθνος—a number of people living together, a company, a body of
men.
ἔθνος ἑταίρων—a band of comrades.
ἔθνος λαῶν—a host of men.
ὁ δῆμος—a district, country, land. Also the people of such
a district, hence (as in early times the common people were
scattered through the country while the chiefs held the city)
the commons, common people. δήμου ἀνήρ opposed to βασιλεύς.
LATIN
_Vulgus_—people collectively or without distinction, the
public or people generally: _Non est consilium in vulgo_. The
multitude, the common people, the populace.
_Populus_—a people, the commons in contradistinction to
the senate and knights: _senatus populusque Romanus_. The
inhabitants of a country or town, a nation, a whole people:
_Populus Romanus victor dominusque omnium gentium_. A large
number of people, a crowd, throng: _populus fratrum_.
_Plebs_—The common people, commonality, the ignoble opposed to
_patricii_, _patres_ or _senatus_; whereas _populus_ comprises
both classes. When the knights, _equites_, were raised to a
separate class, the _plebs_ formed the third; i.e., the last or
lowest class; hence, the lower class of people, the populace,
the mass.
FRENCH
_Peuple_—a multitude of people of the same country and living
under the same laws: _Les peuples ne souffrent que par les
fautes des rois_.[6]
_Peuple_—a multitude of people who, although not occupying the
same country, have the same religion or the same origin: _et je
serai leur Dieu, et eux ils seront mon peuple_.[7]
_Peuple_—that part of a nation considered as opposed to the
classes among whom there is either more ease or more education:
_Il y a le peuple qui est opposé aux grands. C’est la populace
et la multitude._[8]
In Middle English the word people was already a synonym for _folc_: “A
Blysful lyf, Ledden the peoples in the former age” (Chaucer).
In Modern English the word people has almost entirely displaced _Volk_
except in colloquial or archaic speech. Like _Volk_ in its fundamental
sense we have:
People—a body of persons composing a community, tribe, race, or
nation.
People—persons in relation to a superior, or to some one to
whom they belong.
People—the common people, the commonality; the mass of the
community as distinguished from the nobility and ruling, or
official, classes, etc. “A people’s voice! We are a people yet”
(Tennyson).