Volk meaning a special group characterized by primitivism in various forms.
II, 25: “wie die Denkart des Volks mit der gelehrten Denkart neben und in einander laufe?” “Was giebt die Denkart und Sprache des Volks dem Philosophen, Dichter und Redner für Masse?” “Was hat dies für Vortheile und Nachtheile für die Weisen und dem Schüler des Volks?” Here Herder discusses two separate manners of thinking, designating one as being peculiar to the Volk and the other as being that of the Gelehrten; one as belonging to the Volk, the other to the Philosophen, Dichter and Redner. Here is a clear implication that the Volk is a class apart from philosophers, poets, and orators; a class different from the sages. Not being wise and learned, they must be those upon whom artificial methods of training and culture have had less effect than upon the philosophers, poets, and orators. They are therefore more nearly the natural man.
I, 157: “So wie das Völkerrecht jetzt im Staat zum Gesez ward: so in der Sprache.... Es entstand ein Adel ein Pöbel und ein Mittelstand unter den Völkern wie er in der Gesellschaft entstand.” Herder here has traced the development of prose out of poetry. He finds that the language of passion gave way to that of mediocre wit, and this in turn became the speech of reason. Here is suggested a parallel between the rights of the people, which passed into state laws, and the language which passes from Poebel to Mittelstand and then to Adel. If we make parallel the Völkerrecht in the development of law with the Mittelstand in the social status, then Volk is a class between the rabble and the nobility. If we follow the analogy suggested in the second sentence of the quotation, we shall make the rabble those who have the language of passion; the Volk those who have the language of mediocre wit; and the nobility those whose language is that of reason. Herder’s Volk here would be a middle class.
Volk is used commonly to mean primitive peoples, i.e., people who have reached only an early stage of civilization. Among those to whom frequent reference is made as such are: Greenlanders, Laplanders, Early Scandinavians, Early Germans, Greeks of Homer’s time, Ancient Hebrews, Ancient Celts in Scotland and Ireland, and American Indians. The moral standards and intellectual equipment found among these are eulogized and idealized whenever these peoples as groups are compared with civilized communities.
V, 189: “In mehr als einer Provinz sind mir Volkslieder, Provinziallieder, Bauerlieder bekannt, die an Lebhaftigkeit und Rhythmus und Naivetät und Stärke der Sprache vielen derselben gewiss nichts nachgeben würden.” Here Volk is put in apposition with that which is provincial, which has a peasant character. A meaning which is equivalent to the less cultured. Herder is discussing the whereabouts of Volkslieder which he locates among the Volk, and Volk are to be found in the lanes, in the fish markets, and in the country.
V, 185: “Zuerst sollten also wohl für die Seele des Volks die doch nur fast sinnlicher Verstand und Einbildung ist.” ... Herder here considers the Volk as having the kind of soul which would be formed by contact with the forces of nature, unaltered by the hand of man, and, especially, little touched by reflection, the reasoning faculty.
II, 349: “Alles was für das Volk redete und schrieb, Redner, und Geschichtsschreiber, musste populär sprechen; alles was für Gebildetere schrieb, Dichter, und Philosoph, und Redner, und Briefschreiber war freyer.” This statement clearly opposes Volk to those more cultured. The adjective, “populär,” used with reference to that which would befit them, gives a shading to the meaning of Volk, derived from the meaning of “popular,” that which partakes of a quality peculiar to the populace. Volk here are the less cultured.
V
CONNATIONS ARISING FROM USES WITH ADJECTIVES
These imply an emphasis on a group in which crudeness, the natural as opposed to the cultured and polished, are eulogized.
XIII, 299: “Jedes eingebohrne sinnliche Volk hat sich also mit seinen Begriffen auch in seine Gegend umschränkt.”