Karl Müllenhoff

He was born in Marne, Holstein as the second son of merchant Johann Anton Müllenhoff. In his youth, he received his education in the town of Meldorf (1830–1837).[1] He later studied under Gregor Wilhelm Nitzsch at the University of Kiel, then continued his education at Leipzig (1839, under Gottfried Hermann and Moriz Haupt) and then in Berlin (1839-1841), where his instructors included Karl Lachmann and Wilhelm Grimm. In 1841 he received his PhD at Kiel with a dissertation on Sophocles.[2]

He taught classes in German language, literature and mythology at the University of Kiel, where in 1854 he became a full professor of German literature and history. Afterwards, he returned to Berlin as a professor of German philology (1858-1884). In 1861 he became a member of the Gesetzlose Gesellschaft zu Berlin. Two of his well-known students in Berlin were Wilhelm Scherer and Elias von Steinmeyer.[1][2]

In 1863 he introduced a theory involving the continuity of written language dating from the era of Old High German.[1]

From around 1875, he resided at Schellingstraße 7 (Berlin-Tiergarten), a few years later, moving to a house on Lützowufer in the same district. He was buried in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg. In 1896, a thoroughfare called Müllenhoffstraße (Berlin-Kreuzberg) was named in his honor.[1]

• Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg, 1845 – Collection of sagas, fairy tales and songs from the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
• De Antiquissima Germanorum Poesi Chorica, a treatise; cited as one of his greatest works (1847).
• Altdeutsche Sprachproben, 1864 (4th edition, 1885. 5th edition, 1963).
• Denkmäler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem 8. bis 12. Jahrhundert, with Wilhelm Scherer (Berlin, 1864) – Monuments of German poetry and prose from the 8th-12th century.
• Deutsche Alterthumskunde, left unfinished; cited as one of his greatest works (1870–99); five volumes.
  • Vol. 1. Die Phoenizier. Pytheas von Massalia.
  • Vol. 2. Die Nord- und Ostnachbaren der Germanen. Die Gallier und Germanen.
  • Vol. 3. Der Ursprung der Germanen.
  • Vol. 4. Die Germania des Tacitus.
  • Vol. 5. Über die Voluspa. Über die ältere Edda.[3]

• Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Müllenhoff, Karl Victor" . The American Cyclopædia.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Müllenhoff, Karl Viktor" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

• Scherer and Schröder, Karl Müllenhoff (Berlin, 1896) (in German)

• Works by or about Karl Müllenhoff at Internet Archive
• Works by Karl Müllenhoff at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Karl Müllenhoff at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)