author
Wilhelm Braune
1850–1926
A pioneering scholar of German language history, he helped make Old and Middle High German literature far more accessible to students and researchers. His grammars and readers became standard tools for generations of medievalists and historical linguists.
1 Audiobook
A Gothic Grammar, with selections for reading and a glossary
by Wilhelm Braune
About the author
Born in Großthiemig on 20 February 1850 and later active at the universities of Leipzig, Giessen, and Heidelberg, Wilhelm Braune was a leading German philologist and Germanist. He is especially remembered for his work on the early stages of the German language and for the clarity and usefulness of his scholarly editions and teaching books.
Braune played a major role in shaping the study of Old High German and Middle High German. His Althochdeutsche Grammatik and Althochdeutsches Lesebuch became foundational texts, and he was also associated with the long-running journal Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, an important forum for historical German linguistics and medieval studies.
He died in Heidelberg on 10 November 1926. Even today, his name is closely tied to the practical side of philology: careful editing, precise grammar, and a lasting effort to bring the earliest forms of German writing within reach of modern readers.