Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/11



On the completion of the present work, it is to me a pleasant duty to express my thanks to all those who have rendered its execution possible, and have helped to give it its new shape.

I might have mentioned, under the separate words, those scholars who have discovered any etymological data bearing upon the vocabulary of our mother-tongue; the vast extent of etymological literature deterred me, however, from doing so. There is no Teutonic scholar or linguist of any repute who has not by his researches either helped to determine the etymology of some German word or actually settled it. It would have been an extremely toilsome and yet useless task to give the name of the discoverer of the etymology of each word; and how frequently have several scholars at the same time deserved credit for clearing up the history of a word. O. Schade, in his “Old German Dictionary,” has with untiring industry collected materials from the copious literature for the older period, and has received the thanks of specialists. I could not expect that those who may use my book would wade through the numerous errors and occasional imperfections of scientific investigation in order to form their own opinion on the evolution of particular words. By foregoing such a plan I obtained space, in spite of the limited compass to which this book was confined, to describe pretty fully the actual development of the word itself.

If my attempt to give a brief, clear, and connected view of the history of each element of our vocabulary has been in any degree successful, a great part of the credit is due to the men who have watched over the germs planted by the great founders of our philology, and have in the course of the last twenty years made them bloom anew. In their foremost ranks I view with pleasure those whose academical instruction I was permitted to enjoy, and others who in friendly intercourse have taught me much and stimulated me in my work. The fact that some of them too have testified their kindly, helpful sympathy with the new edition has been highly grateful to me, in the interest of the subject I have at heart.