Hermann Pauls Principien der Sprachgeschichte. Von der ersten zur zweiten Auflage

The second edition of Hermann Paul’s Principien der Sprachgeschichte [Principles of the History of Language] of 1886 is considered to be the true version of this milestone in linguistics. I consider why the circa 80 page shorter, that is ten chapters shorter, first edition did not yet receive such a high assessment. What could have been the author's reason for a revised version six years later? One must not only consider the inclusion of newer and foreign research literature but also the beginning of Paul’s work on his German dictionary which was published in 1897. The relationship between the second edition of the Principien and Paul’s lexicographic procedure resulted in substantial methodological and theoretical innovations. These were either caused or stimulated in the second edition by the lexicographic procedure. Altogether four types of evidence were examined. He explained (1) the meaning of the terminological pair ‘usuell’ and ’occasionell’, (2) explicit references to lexicographic aspects, (3) sort and context of the discussion of semantics in the recently included literature, and (4) classification of meaning change based on ancient rhetoric categories. My conclusion, in general, is that a text-oriented history of linguistics must include the intertextual references: It does not matter whether it concerns a theoretical thesis, empirical analyses, or presentations addressed to non-linguistic readers