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Folk

'''''Folk''''' is one of the Germanic languages|Germanic roots that mean "(of) the people" or "our people" (as opposed to different clans, tribes, or nations). The English word ''folk'' has cognates in most of the other Germanic languages. ''Folk'' may be a Germanic root that is Germanic substrate hypothesis|unique to the Germanic languages, and not derived directly from Indo-European language|Indo-European; though some non-Germanic cognates such as Latin ''vulgus'', "the common people", have been suggested. Calvert Watkins (ed.), ''The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots'', second edition (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) ISBN 0-618-08250-6

Etymology

The Modern English word "''folk''", derives from Old English "''folc''" meaning "''common people''", "''men''", "''tribe''" or "''multitude''". The Old English noun itself came from Proto-Germanic "''*fulka''" which perhaps originally referred to a "''host of warriors''". Compare Old Norse "''folk''" meaning "''people''" but more so "''army''" or "''detachment''", German language|German "''Gefolge''" (host), and Lithuanian language|Lithuanian "''pulkas''" meaning "''crowd''". The latter is considered to be an early Lithuanian loanword from Germanic origin, cf. Belarusian language|Belarusian "полк" - "''połk''" meaning regiment and German "''Pulk''" for a group of persons standing together. The word became colloquialized (usually in the plural "folks") in English in the sense "people", and was considered unelegant by the beginning of the 19th century. It re-entered academic English through the invention of the word ''folklore'' in 1846 by the antiquarian William Thoms|William J. Thoms (1803-85) as an Anglo-Saxon language|Anglo-Saxonism. This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people, whose culture is handed down orally", and opened up a flood of compound formations, eg. folk art (1921), folk-hero (1899), folk-medicine (1898), folk-tale (1891), folk-song (1847), folk-dance (1912). Folk-music is from 1889; in reference to the branch of modern popular music (originally associated with Greenwich Village in New York City) it dates from 1958. It is also regional music.

Cognates in other Germanic language

Folk has a cognate in almost ''' every other Germanic language, all deriving from Proto-Germanic "''*fulka''", some are listed below:
- Danish language|Danish - ''folk''
- Dutch language|Dutch - ''volk''
- Swedish language|Swedish - ''folk''
- Frisian languages|Frisian - ''folk''
- Norwegian language|Norwegian - ''folk''
- Icelandic language|Icelandic - ''fólk''
- Faroese language|Faroese - ''fólk''
- German language|German - ''Volk''
- Afrikaans - ''volk''
- Scots language|Scots - ''fowk'' In all Germanic languages, the variant of "''folk''" means "''people''" or something related to the people.

Folk in German

Background

In German language|German the word ''Volk'' can have several different meanings, such as ''folk'' (simple people), ''people'' in the ethnic sense, and ''nation''. German ''Volk'' is commonly used as the first, determing part (Head (linguistics)|''head'') of compound nouns such as ''Volksentscheid'' (plebiscite, lit. "decision of/by the people") or ''Völkerbund'' (League of Nations), or the car manufacturer Volkswagen (literally, "people's car").

19th century and early 20th century

A number of völkisch movements existed prior to World War I. Combining interest in folklore, ecology, occultism and romanticism with ethnic nationalism, their ideologies were a strong influence on the Nazi party, which itself was inspired by Adolf Hitler's membership of the ''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (German Workers' Party), even though Hitler in ''Mein Kampf'' himself denounced usage of the word ''völkisch'' as he considered it too vague as to carry any recognizable meaning due to former over-use. Today, the term ''völkisch'' is largely restricted to historical contexts describing the closing 19th century and early 20th century up to Hitler's seize of power in 1933, especially during the years of the Weimar Republic.

Nazi era

During the years of the Third Reich, the term '''Volk''' became heavily used in nationalistic political slogans, particularly in slogans such as ''Volk ohne Lebensraum|Raum'' — "(a) people without space" or ''Völkischer Beobachter'' ("popular observer"), an NSDAP party newspaper. Also the political slogan ''Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer'' ("One people, one country/empire, one leader"); and the compound word ''Herrenvolk'', translated as "master race". Even though Hitler in his book ''Mein Kampf'' often mixed up specific biological and zoological terms such as ''race'', ''species'', and others, the Nazi-era use of ''Volk'' could ''not'', depending on context, be interpreted as "race", "Germanic", or "European." In Nazi propaganda, several ''peoples'' made up a ''race'', so these two terms did not denote the same thing during the Nazi years. The ''German people'' was considered part of the ''Germanic race'' which latter officially included the Scandinavians, the English, and the Dutch as well (while Hitler himself also included the Celts), so ''Volk'' did not equal ''Germanic'' either. Nazi-era publications on pre-history only differed whether their ''Germanic race'' equalled the ''Indo-European race'' or the ''Germanic race'' itself was part of a ''family of Indo-European races'', since ''indogermanisch'' is the common German term for ''Indo-European''.

Today

Because ''Volk'' is the generic German word for "people" in the ethnic sense today as well as for "people entitled to vote" (''Wahlvolk''), its use does not necessarily denote any particular political views in post-1945 Germany. However, because of its past, the word is rarely used with ''Bevölkerung'' ("population") serving as a substitute.

References

- Henning Eichberg (2004), ''The People of Democracy. Understanding Self-Determination on the Basis of Body and Movement''. (= Movement Studies. 5) Århus: Klim (Theory of folk, people, and civil society with Scandinavian background)
- Emerich K. Francis (1965) ''Ethnos und Demos. Soziologische Beiträge zur Volkstheorie''. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot (classical German-American sociology of folk, ethnos and demos)
- Emerich K. Francis (1976) ''Interethnic Relations. An Essay in Sociological Theory''. New York u.a.: Elsevier.
- Raphael Samuel (1981) (ed.), ''People’s History and Socialist Theory''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL

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