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Jacob Grimm: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Jacob Grimm, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• The fairy-tale collector who worked out how Germanic languages evolved

  Jacob Grimm — yes, of Grimm's Fairy Tales — built on Rasmus Rask's earlier findings and in 1822 systematised a wholesale pattern of consonant shifts separating the Germanic languag…

  — Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik

• A fairy-tale collector found a hidden pattern linking 'father', 'pater' and 'fadar'

  Jacob Grimm, better known for collecting fairy tales with his brother, noticed in 1822 that certain consonants shift in predictable ways between related language families: Latin 'p…

  — Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik

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