J. J. Griesbach (Commentatio, 1794) treated this as the first of three source theories as solutions to the synoptic problem, following (1) the traditional Augustinian utilization hypothesis, as (2) the original gospel hypothesis or proto-gospel hypothesis, (3) the fragment hypothesis (Koppe 1793); and (4) the oral gospel hypothesis or tradition hypothesis (Herder 1797).
In 1772 Herder published Treatise on the Origin of Language and went further in this promotion of language than his earlier injunction to "spew out the ugly slime of the Seine. Speak German, O You German".
His wife was the writer and salonist Friederike Brun who had a large international network which included prominent names such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Johann Gottfried Herder, Wilhelm Grimm, Bertel Thorvaldsen, and the Swiss female writer Madame de Staël with whom she formed a close friendship.
Johann Sebastian Bach | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Johann Strauss II | St. Johann in Tirol | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz | Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi | Johann Albert Fabricius | Johann Christian Bach | Gilbert Gottfried | Johann Georg Wagler | Johann Pachelbel | Johann Nepomuk Hummel | Johann Gottfried Herder | Gottfried Keller | Johann Nestroy | Herder | Johann Joachim Winckelmann | Johann Gottlieb Fichte | Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach | Johann Homann | Johann Friedrich Böttger | Gottfried von Einem | Gottfried Silbermann | Gottfried August Bürger | Johann Kuhnau | Johann Heinrich Lambert | Johann Friedrich Blumenbach | Johann Wilhelm von Müller | Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine | Johann Mattheson |
It has its origins in the writings of German Romantics like Friedrich Carl von Savigny, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and, most notably, Johann Gottfried Herder.
Schwan's bookstore and home were centers of literary life in Mannheim, where luminaries such as Lessing, Wieland, Herder, Goethe, Lenz, Schubart and Schiller were occasional visitors.
In other parts of Europe, the interest in Norse mythology, history and language was represented by Englishmen Thomas Gray, John Keats and William Wordsworth, and Germans Johann Gottfried Herder and Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.
In the 19th century, many Slavic nations experienced a Romantic fascination with an idealised Slavic Arcadia believed to have existed before the advent of Christianity, combining such notions as the noble savage and Johann Gottfried Herder's national spirit.
Goethes friend Karl Ludwig von Knebel mentioned the writing in his diary, it is also documented in transcriptions by Johann Gottfried Herder and Luise von Göchhausen.