25,000 letters, e-mails and short messages from 52 countries and four centuries – and it’s always about love: According to the responsible linguists, the collection in the love letter archive in Koblenz-Darmstadt is “the only archive of its kind in Germany”.
25,000 letters, e-mails and short messages from 52 countries and four centuries – and it’s always about love: According to the responsible linguists, the collection in the love letter archive in Koblenz-Darmstadt is “the only archive of its kind in Germany”. It was founded by Professor Eva Lia Wyss in 1997 with newspaper calls for letters to be sent in. It is celebrating its 25th anniversary on September 24th in Koblenz with a “Long Night of Love Letters”, which is already sold out.
All kinds of declarations of love are of interest to linguists. Even though most correspondence is digital in the mobile phone age, according to Wyss, traditional love letters have not died out. “On special occasions like birthdays and wedding anniversaries, people still write letters by hand, even on handmade paper and beautifully decorated.” Calligraphy, i.e. the art of beautiful handwriting, “is a trend again”.
According to the Darmstadt linguistics professor Andrea Rapp, “Schatz” or “Schatzi” has been the most common pet name in love letters since the 19th century. Her colleague Wyss says that cute little angels and princesses are also popular. The nicknames change over time. Wyss cites examples: “Dearest dearest beloved” in the 19th century and “frills” in the 1920s. In a correspondence from the 1990s it says: “Frogmouth, little animal, little animal, king’s child, monster, infinitely hugged bitch.”
Love letters are a cultural treasure that often lie dormant in attics and in boxes for decades, says the keeper of the archive. When households are liquidated, “many then see our archive as a great opportunity not to throw everything away and send us the old love letters from parents and grandparents”. At love letter get-togethers in Koblenz and Darmstadt, love letters are presented as part of the civil science project “Gruß
Incidentally, the oldest letter from the archive went to Lotte, written by Mr. Borener in 1715: “A divine fire flows in my veins, pulls me away, throws me down at the feet of my goddess.”
