Wittgenstein's 'Wörterbuch für Volksschulen' (1926)
John Bjarne Grover
In the article Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the fundamental theorem of linguistics I concluded that Wittgenstein's logical matrix of TLP 5.101 as the background of his TLP 6 is interpreted in my TEQ book/function 14 which includes a semiotic theory.
The conclusion was that Wittgenstein may have intuited this himself but that it was only after I had shown it for natural language nearly 100 years later that it could be properly understood.
Wittgenstein published only two works in his lifetime - the TLP (1921-22) and the 'Wörterbuch für Volksschulen' (1926) - the latter may well be a masterpiece in line with his 'Tractatus' and may attempt to fill in the missing parts of the TLP: It is likely that it in explores the formal logic of a bitstring enumeration (a la his truth table of TLP 5.101) in natural language format.
Wittenstein's Wörterbuch is typeset in 3 columns of words on 42 pages = 126 page columns. All the pages are quite similar-looking except for the last page 42 which is a little shorter but all three columns are the same length. The types used make for some interesting similarities of e.g. S and F - a trait which resembles the phenomenon of hebrew letters (N and G, Z and U, K and B etc). There is probably a lot of structure that can be established, and I here discuss only 3 forms of structure which I have come across and which I associate with the 3 dimensions of a logical space. The third is the interesting one and may be used in at least politics. See this file for details.
It happened a few years ago that I found three black (and possibly ex nihilo) textiles - all of them were humid, the two first only a little, the third soaking wet. The two first I found under very similar circumstances - I entered a tram and found a black and slightly humid semi-transparent and fine-woven textile on a seat, and since I concluded that somebody could have forgotten it, I gave it to the driver. One week later exactly the same happened again and then it felt quite absurd. The third was quite different - it was outside the tram (I was sitting inside it) and it lay in the slush and water on the ground outside the window, underneath a commercial ad which seemed to contain the photo of two females with black textile trousers.
It is possible to consider the 3-dimensional logical space in the sense of territory generally:
1) The dimension of depth from west to east
2) The dimension of length from north to south
3) The dimension of depth into the ground
1) The principle of relevance for Wittgenstein's logical theory as far as my own fundamental theorem is concerned is about the mirror symmetries in the logically ordered 'rainbow'. If his 'Wörterbuch', which is alphabetically ordered, is considered such a 'rainbow', there should be mirror symmetries. These can be traced to the typographically ordered pages in the example I discuss here. It consists in comparing mirror-symmetric pages in the 42-page 3-column dictionary and compare the top word in the lefthand or first column with the mid word in the central or second column in the mirror page. It turns out that there is a systematic relation if a bit-string LEFT SHIFT (= multiplication with 2) = 'onset-truncation' is performed on the top left entry. The reason why I discovered this was that I considered the 5th last page (that is page 38) with its top left entry 'Ursache' against page 5 mid part where the brief section with words starting on 'C' begins - and I recognized a 'Schacht' from the evidence of the pre-heard recording by Helene Grimaud of Chopin's Waltz, a few seconds which I heard probably 'ex nihilo' two years before she made the recording and I immediately recognized these when I later heard the record. Chopin is not mentioned in Wittgenstein's book, but the phenomenon recurs in the form of p.32 top left 'schöpfen' - onset-truncating to 'Chopin' - against mirror p.11 where the mid words are 'Gehilfe, Gehirn, Gehör'. This could find a further motivation in p.33 top left 'sehnen', 'Sehnsucht' truncated to 'ehnen', 'ehnfucht' (the german 'gothic' typography plays on such ambiguities of s/f etc) against p.10 'Friedhof' for the logical space of Israel with resurrection. In fact the whole book seems to conform to such phenomena - albeit when top left entry turns from last to first half at pages 22-21, there seems to be a tendency for a shift from semantic to phonological relevance. Top left p.22 'm-eiden' vs mid left p.21 'Mann' can be seen as semantic, while top left p.21 'lüften' vs mid p.22 'misslingen', 'Mist', 'mit' would be more graphic when s and f are similar ('üft' vs 'mist').
I mention some examples:
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Top left v-erwechseln v-orstellen T-rinkgeld T-alar[m] S-terz S-pediteur s-ch-lachten s-auber R-ind, R-indfleisch R-ealschule P-ublikum P-lakat P-antoffel n-iemals m-ultiplizieren m-eiden l-üften L-eben K-ren K-nobel K-attun J-agd H-olzschnitt h-eben g-rell G-eschmack G-arbe f-link f-ähig e-mpören d-ünn d-emolieren B-ote B-ekleidung a-u-sgezeichnet A-ndrang A-as |
Mid centre mirror page bewusstlos, Bibliothek bilden Diwan, Dokument Eingang, Einbruch Ernst, Ernte Ferkel, Fertigkeit Glaube, gläubig, gleich haften, Hagel, Hahn herzlich, Hercog, Hetze Imker, immer Kalk, kalt Klammer Konkurrenz Lack, Lacke Leute, leugnen Mann Mist nähren Offenherzig[keit] Perücke, Pest, Peter Powidl, Pracht radeln, radieren Reissbrett ruinieren, Rum Schaufel, Schaukel (cp. 'Rel-ais') schmecken, schmeicheln, schmeissen Schwalbe Siegel (cp. 'Jahoda & Siegel') Stab, Stachel, Stadel Streu, Strich, Strick tief, Tiegel übrig, übrigens Vergissmeinnicht, vergeuden, Vergleich Vorsicht, vorstellen werben, werden würfel, würgen zufrieden, zu Fuss |
3) The depth dimension is more special: That is the 'Siebenstern'. To find a reflex of the third black textile, I look up 'bukse' which I find on page 5 bottom of the page, and on top of page 40 I find 'weisen' - as the opposite of the black textiles. Is this it? I could not find other relevant examples - but then I suddenly spotted on page 40 the word 'Watsche' which means 'Ohrfeige', 'box on the ear', and wonder if Wittgenstein did this to the boy soon after the book was published in order to tell where it was. 'Watsche' is in the upper part of column 1 on page 40 - appr 5 cm from the top in the A4 printout I have made - 3,3-3,5 cm in the normal edition - and I look on the corresponding place in column 3 where I find the word 'Widerstand' - which looks right: It is the boy. Then I return to page 5 to look up the word 5 cm from the bottom of the mid column - and it is Christus - or Christof. Aha, here it is.
I then keep these measures invariant and look up the same on column 1 page 41, column 2 page 6, column 3 page 41 - and continue in the same way with wrapover from 42 to 1: 42-7-42, 1-8-1, 2-9-2, 3-10-3 etc. When I come to 4-11-4 it turns out to be the explanation to the story:
Column 1 page 40 = Wasser, Watsche
Column 2 page 5 = Christus, Christoph
Column 3 page 40 = widersprechen, Widerstand
Ah, here is the boy in the class. It turns out that these 7 elements seem to be mirror-symmetric - joining the Ohrfeige with the Bengel:
Column 1 page 4 = Bengel, benutzen
Column 2 page 11 = Geld, gelehrig
Column 3 page 4 = blasen
The mid triad is then the following - surrounded with the other entries:
Column 1 page 1 = Aberglaube, abermals
Column 2 page 8 = ersetzen
Column 3 page 1 = allwissend, Alms
Wittgenstein writes in his TLP (if I recall it right) that Kausalität = Aberglaube - which is the mid of this series of 7 triads.
This is likely to be the explanation to the story: Wittgenstein got the book from the publisher, read it through and thereafter his mind converged on the 'Siebenstern' interpretation given below, for which the interpretation which explains it as a Donner-'Watsche' = a thunderous box on the ear of the 'Bengel' - after which he resigned and this story would be left in history as a bookmark for understanding the structure relevant to TLP. That means that he did not do it intentionally but the matter of publishing was very important.
The following are the 6 'Siebensterns' (potato peel filters) consisting of 7 triads each from the vertical dimension that can be extracted from the text. There are some difficulties in deciding which words are just 5 cm (or 3,3-3,5 cm) from the top and bottom of the column (assuming that the 'bookmark' is defining) and I here include both alternatives where it is ambiguous, which it is most of the time.
1. Siebenstern
5 braun, Brause
12 glimmen
5 dämmern, Dämmerung
6 Depot, der
13 haltbar
6 drei
7 dürfen, dürftig
14 hierauf, hierher
7 Eintritt, einwärts
8 England, englisch
15 Indianer, Indien
8 Essen
9 Fall, Falle
16 Kandiszucker, Kaninchen
9 First, Fisch
10 Flucht, flüchten
17 Klause, Klavier
10 Fundament, fünf
11 Gas, Gasometer
18 Kontrolle, konzentriert
11 Genick, genieren
2. Siebenstern
12 Geschwulst, Geschwür
19 Laich
12 gönnen, Göpel
13 Grimm, Grind
20 liederlich, Lieferant
13 hängen
14 hegen, Heide
21 Mark (Knöchenmark, Ostmark)
14 hinüber, hinum
15 Hort, Hose
22 Mittelschule, mitten
15 ins = in das. Inschrift
16 Jänner, Japan
23 national, Natron
16 Kapuze, Karabiner
17 Kauz, Kauz
24 Ökonom
17 Klinge (Messer-), Klingel
18 Knoten, Knüpfen
25 Pfeffer, Pfeife
18 Kot, Kotzen
3. Siebenstern
19 Kristall, kritisieren
26 Prärie, Präsident
19 langjährig, länglich
20 ledig, leer
27 rammen, Rampe
20 List, Liste
21 Lunge, lungern
28 reklamieren (zurückfordern)
21 Maschine, Masern
22 meinig (poss pron), Meinung
29 rüsten, rüstig
22 Molkerei, Moment
23 mürb, murksen
30 Scheit, Scheitel
23 nein
24 nisten, nobel
31 Schmiere, schmierig
24 Organisation, Organist
25 Paprika, Papst
32 schwätzen, schweben
25 Pflugschar, Pfosten
4. Siebenstern
26 Platane, Plateau
33 Sitzung, Skala
26 Primararzt (Primarius), Primaware
27 pünktlich, Punsch
34 Ständer, standhaft
27 rasseln, Rast
28 Rechenbuch, rechnen
35 Strupfe, struppig
28 repetieren, Republik
29 Ringlo, rings
36 (tot), toll
29 Saft, Sage/sagen
30 saufen, (saugen?)
37 unangenehm, Unannehmlichkeit
30 Scheune, Scheusal
31 schlagen
38 (verkutzen?), verlangen
31 Schnauze, Schnecke
32 schräg, Schragen
39 Wache; Wachs
32 schwerfällig, Schwerkraft
5. Siebenstern
33 sein, war
40 weshalb, Wespe
33 sollen, Sommer
34 Spennadel, Spende
41 Xaver (Name)
34 stauen, staunen
35 Stiel, Stier
42 zuleide, zuletzt, (zündeln, zünden?)
35 Stute, Stütze
36 tappen, Tara
1 Akrobat, Akt
36 trächtig, Trafik
37 Trost, Trottel
2 Ast, Astronomie
37 Unrat, Unschlitt
38 Vanille, Vase
3 bäuerisch, bäuerlich
38 Vers, Versammlung
39 verzagen, verzehren
4 Binde, binden
39 wahrhaft, wahrnehmen
6. Siebenstern
40 Wasser, Watsche
5 Christus, Christoph
40 widersprechen, Widerstand
41 Wipfel, wir
6 Donner, Donnerstag
41 Zapfen
42 zerzausen, Zettel
7 einmengen, Einöde
42 zuständig, Zutrauen
1 Aberglaube, abermals
8 ersetzen
1 allwissend, Alms
2 Angel , angenehm
9 Fichte, fidel
2 auffällig, Aufführung
3 ausnahmsweise, ausrenken
10 Frucht, fruchtbar
3 beenden, Beere
4 Bengel, benützen
11 Geld, gelehrig
4 blasen
The author thanks the birds who tipped him on the details in the dictionary structures.
Grimaud, H.: Memory. Recording in Munich in December 2017 published in 2018 on Deutsche Grammophon 00289 483 5710.
Wittgenstein, L.: Wörterbuch für Volksschulen. Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Wien 1926.
Wittgenstein, L.: Wörterbuch für Volksschulen. Mit einer Einführung herausgegeben von Adolf Hübner - Werner und Elisabeth Leinfellner. Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Wien 1977.
© John Bjarne Grover
On the web 19 july 2019
Last updated 12 october 2024
