Before going directly to the main discussion of our theme, a background is sought in a brief semasiological study of the word _Volk_. The word is widespread in the Germanic languages; Gothic, however, offers no examples. Among the earliest recorded Germanic forms are those in Old English and in Old High German. Old English _folc_ meant people, common people, multitude, a people, tribe, family, army: “He sloh folces Denigea fyftyne men”—_Beowulf_. “Folces hyrde”—_Beowulf_. It was particularly used originally of a crowd of people. Skeat’s _Etymological Dictionary_ suggests the possibility of its being related to both flock and full. Old High German _folc_ meant people, body of warriors, servants, crowd, mass. The oldest meaning here suggests forces of war: _dhazs himiliscâ folc_. The word occurs in Old Frisian as _folk_; in Old Saxon, _folc_; and in Old Norse, _folk_; with meanings equivalent to those found in Old High German and Old English. Kluge’s _Etymological Dictionary_ says that the meaning “division of an army” seems to be the fundamental meaning of the family group, from which Lithuanian _pulkas_, heap mass, Old Slavonic _plŭkŭ_, host of war, are borrowed forms. In Middle English the word took on the additional meaning of an aggregation of people in relation to a superior; e.g., God, a king, or priest; further it began to mean also the vulgar or lower classes, this use easily rising out of the meaning “mass” or “the many.” Such expressions occur as _beboden waes Godes folce_, _Folkes Mass Book_. In Middle High German the meaning was people, hosts of war, army, servants, subjects, multitude: _er das Volk gewan_ (_Gudrun_, 1162, 2). In Modern English the word is chiefly colloquial, being superseded in more formal use by “people.” In numerous combinations (following German precedent) it has the sense of pertaining to, current among, or existing among the masses of the people or the common people. Such expressions as folk-belief, folk-custom, folk-literature, folk-name, folk-song, and folk-speech are prevalent. Modern High German has retained the word with nearly all of its primitive meanings: _die schottischen Völker empören sich und drohen abzuziehen_;[1] _Mein Volk zu mindern_;[2] _Was rennt das Volk?_;[3] _du weisst, wir alten fahren, und ihr junges Volk reitet_;[4] _den Teufel spürt das Völkchen nie_.[5] The large number of compounds in which the word is used limit its connotation to either “the masses” or “the common people”: _Volksbuch_, _Volksdichter_, _Volksgeist_, _Volkslehrer_, _Volksschule_, etc. Kluge in his _Etymological Dictionary_ says: “Connection with Latin _vulgus_ is uncertain; for it is questionable whether the Latin word together with the Germanic family group would come from an original _qelgos_, _qolgos_.” Weigand, _Deutsches Wörterbuch_ says: “The earlier comparison with the Latin, _volgus_, is not possible. Rather to be compared here are the word _voll_ and roots related to the Greek πλῆθος.”