The task of the Research Centre is to select the edition of the manuscript estate of the important explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859), the complete edition of his dependent publications, and the historical analysis of the scientific heritage. Extensive collections of copies of letters from and to Humboldt as well as of his travel diaries have been created for this purpose. These and…
The “Dictionnaire étymologique de l’ancien français” (DEAF) is a fundamental dictionary of Old French, encompassing the timespan between 842 (date of the Strasbourg Oath between Louis the German and Charles the Bald against Lothair I transmitted in the Old High German and Old French languages) until the mid-14th century (the epochal boundary with Middle French on philological and social grounds).
This project focuses upon the publication of dictionaries on the medieval language of Southern France. In addition to the “Dictionnaire onomasiologique de l’ancien gascon” (DAG), a thematically ordered dictionary of the Gascon linguistic sphere, equally conceived “Dictionnaire onomasiologique de l’ancien occitan” (DAO) encompassing the entire Old Occitan linguistic sphere, supplemented by means of…
In the Middle Ages, Old Occitan (formerly “Old Provençal”) was a literary and cultural language, the influence of which extended far beyond the frontiers of Southern France. It was also the language of the troubadours, whose songs had a decisive impact on the love poetry of the European literatures during the Middle Ages.
The only comprehensive portrayal of the Old Occitan vocabulary to have…
The Berliner Klassik project will examine whether an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Berlin's unusual cultural heyday between 1786 and 1815 can provide an alternative to the Weimar-Jenaic Classicism. To this end, known and less known works and events of this epoch will be related to their internal and external correspondence and oppositions, their socio-cultural prerequisites and their…
In addition to Roman and canonical law, the Sachsenspiegel (reported in the Eastern Harz foreland between 1220 and 1235) and the famous town charter of Magdeburg (developed in the town of Magdeburg and decisively shaped by the spellings of the local court chair between the 13th and 15th centuries) form the common foundations of Central and Eastern European legal systems. Simultaneously with the…
The Verfasserlexikon represents a fundamental and encompassing work of reference on German literature of the Middle Ages as well as a selection of German, Latin writing authors of the period. It contains more than 5000 articles by numerous scholars from Germany and abroad, arranged alphabetically by author and anonymous work title.
All German-language authors and works from the beginning of…
The German Dictionary is a historical dictionary of the meaning of the New High German language. It contains the common German vocabulary from the middle of the 15th century to the present in alphabetical order. It was planned and started by the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, who are regarded as the founders of German studies. According to their imagination and model, the dictionary presents…
The research and edition project on the Fruitbearing Society (1617-1680; 890 members) is dedicated to an organisation that, as a comprehensive German Academy of the 17th century, was linked to a variety of linguistic, literary, scholarly, and (educational) political ambitions. Their work is inherent in national and European perspectives, which remained productive until the Enlightenment.
The aim of the project is to produce a critical, annotated edition of the scientific writings of the Göttingen physicist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799). Lichtenberg was one of the most respected experimental physicists of his time and was also active in many other scientific disciplines. His writings are highly significant testimonies and sources for the history of the…
The Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales (EM) is a handbook on historical and comparative narrative research. It comprehensively presents the results of one and a half centuries of international research work in the field of folk narrative traditions in the past and present. The work focuses on the oral and literary narrative forms of Europe and the cultures influenced by Europe, but also endeavours to…
The task of the project is to produce a critical edition of the works, the handwritten estate and correspondence of the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762 - 1814). This represents an essential contribution to the visualisation of German philosophy of Classicism and an instrument of current worldwide philosophical discussion. In addition, „Kollegnachschriften“ are published in a separate…
The task of the project is the development of a historico-critical edition and annotation of letters by and to the philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743 - 1819). Genuine and fictitious letters characterised Jacobi's work. A epistolary novel (Allwill), a novel with interspersed letters (Woldemar), epistles and about 2800 recorded letters testify to the meaning he gave to this literary form of…
This project aims to edit all of Büchner's surviving writings – including excerpts – in an critical manner based on the manuscripts or first editions, and will be published by the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. The documentary material on the genesis of his writings as well as on his life and early repception is completly reproduced. Further focal points are the documentation of the…
The "ground plan" of the history of German poetry from its sources is the basic work of German literary historical research that was simultaneously developed and grown with the subject. The aim is to explore and process all the essential historical facts and data on the development of German literature from its beginning to the end of the 19th century. The chronological presentation of the…
The Hand Dictionary of Musical Terminology (HmT) deals in detailed monographs with the origin and meaning of musical terms, by understanding their conceptual and History of meaning comprehensively processed and lexically presented. As a first attempt at all an encyclopedic documentation and reflection of the musical terminology in past and present, the HmT is conceived as a music terminological…
Based on a contractual agreement, the historical-critical Hegel edition of the Academy will be produced in the Hegel Archive, an institution of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. The edition has three sections: the first section has been the subject of the work of the last three decades. Eighteen of the twenty-two volumes planned for the first section, containing Hegel's publications and manuscripts,…
The project Hethitische Forschungen has been based in Mainz for more than 20 years. The project has grown out of fifty years of collecting and editing and of participating in the excavations of the German Archaeological Institute in Bogazköy-Hattuša (Turkey).
The task has existed since the beginning of the research project in:
1. the archival collection of cuneiform tablets found during excavations…
The life, work and character of the archaeologist and scholar Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768), who was born in Stendal and worked in Rome as of 1755, repeatedly offered cause for engagement and critical confrontation for archaeologists, art historians and literary scholars in the past. A scientific edition of the works of Winckelmann hasn’t existed until now. With financial support of the…
The Historical Dictionary of Philosophy documents the use of terms from philosophy and neighbouring disciplines in their historical development. It does not include articles on persons as well as the representation of factual connections and historical epochs. Also taken into account are sciences outside of the current disciplinary structure of Philosophy, provided that they have emerged from…