In 1619 there appeared a grammar by Christoph Helwig, professor of classical languages and theology at the University of Giessen. As its title (‘Allgemaine Sprachkünste’) suggests, the treatise constitutes a ‘general’ grammar in German terms. After an initial recognition in his own time Helwig’s grammar fell into almost complete oblivion. Nevertheless a study of the text appears to be of some interest. On the one hand, there is a certain originality of its theoretical approach, in particular where the ‘parts of speech’ and their definition are concerned. On the other hand, Helwig appears to have played a significant role in the establishment of a German grammatical nomenclature. Finally, apart from the medieval linguistic tradition whose influence can be traced in Helwig’s argument, his grammatical treatise is of special interest to historians of ‘general’ or ‘universal’ grammar.