Wilhelm Grimm

German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)

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Lived 1786–1859, aged 73Germany

Germany WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
51 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1786–1859
Aged 73

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

Half of the Brothers Grimm, the pair who excavated fairy tales from German oral tradition and made them permanent. The younger brother, Wilhelm shaped the stories for readers—softening edges, adding literary polish—while Jacob chased linguistic purity.

Biography

About

Wilhelm Carl Grimm was born 24 February 1786, a German writer, philologist, and anthropologist who worked in tandem with his older brother Jacob. Together they formed the Brothers Grimm, a literary duo that collected and published folk tales from German-speaking lands. Wilhelm's role leaned editorial: he refined the raw material, adjusting tone and language to suit a reading public. His work in philology and anthropology ran parallel to the tale-gathering, grounding the project in scholarly method. He died 16 December 1859, leaving behind a body of work that made folklore a subject worthy of s…

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