Zum Sonderweg der Romanistik in Deutschland

The year 1836 marks the birth of Romance Studies in Germany: Friedrich Diez published the first volume of his Grammar of Romance Languages. His activities culminated in the edition of his Etymological Dictionary of Romance Languages. Hugo Schuchardt’s studies contributed a great deal to the creation of the discipline of Romance Studies at German universities from 1840 onwards. But there is a prehistory: The so-called Sprachmeister or maîtres de langues vivantes taught French, Italian, Spanish at old German universities, but the language of instruction was normally German. This tradition continued in the new universities of the 19th century. The students acquired practical knowledge in the use of living languages in the modern language departements („neuphilologische Seminare“) and in the course of professional training („Refrendariat“), but the scholarly instruction remained in German. Still today every German teacher must study and teach two disciplines (French and Latin or English or Mathematics etc.).