Diktion als Authentizitätsfiktion. Oder: Wie die Goethe-Philologie das „Brasilianisch“ erfand

This essay analyses the diction of the poems Liebes Lied eines Amerikanischen Wilden (engl. Love song of an American native) and Todes Lied eines Gefangenen (engl. Death song of a prisoner) which were published anonymously in a hand-written journal at the court of Weimar in 1783. Since 1871, both poems have been attributed to Goethe. They both originate from a chapter in M. de Montaignes Essais, which Goethe took note of in the German translation. Contemporary Goethe editions publish both poems supplemented by the comment “Aus dem Brasilianischen” (“from Brazilian”), indicating that both texts were said to be translated from an indigenous “Brazilian” source. This essay shows that both poems received this title supplement in the course of their editorial history. Goethe himself used the term “Brazilian” to describe the geographical origin of the poems, but never as a term for a language. As a misleading term for an indigenous language of South America, “Brazilian” can neither be proven in the age of Goethe nor in later times.