Deutsches Wörterbuch facts for kids
The Deutsches Wörterbuch (say "DOY-ches VER-ter-book"), often called the DWB, is the biggest and most complete dictionary of the German language. It's like the Oxford English Dictionary but for German! This huge book lists German words used since 1450. It also includes words borrowed from other languages.
The dictionary explains where words come from (their etymology), what they mean, and how they are used. It shows examples from old writings and notes any special ways words are used in different parts of the German speaking world. The first finished DWB had over 330,000 main words. It filled 32 large books!
The Deutsches Wörterbuch was started by the famous Brothers Grimm in 1838. The first books were published in 1854. The brothers didn't live to see it finished. Many other experts continued their work, and the dictionary was finally completed in 1961. In 1971, an extra book was added with 25,000 more words.
Contents
Updating the Dictionary
New projects began in 2004 to update the oldest parts of the dictionary. These older parts were written by the Brothers Grimm themselves. The goal was to make them meet modern academic standards. The Language Research Centre in Berlin and the University of Göttingen worked on this.
Second Edition Plans
Even before the first edition was finished, people started planning a second one in 1957. This new edition was meant to update the first letters of the dictionary (A-F). These were the parts originally written by the Brothers Grimm.
This was a joint effort between East Germany and West Germany. The Academy of Sciences in East Berlin worked on letters A-C. The University of Göttingen in West Germany worked on D-F. The first parts of this new edition came out in 1965. However, it is still not fully finished today. Work on the project in East Germany faced many challenges due to political reasons.
Paperback and Digital Versions
In 1984, the original 1961 version of the DWB was printed in a paperback edition. This version is now out of print. In 1999, a new paperback set of all 33 books was released. It weighed about 30 kilograms (66 pounds)!
In 2004, the University of Trier created a digital version of the entire dictionary. This meant all 300 million printed characters were typed into computers. To make sure there were no mistakes, the whole dictionary was typed in twice! You can now get this digital version on CD-ROMs for different computer systems. It's also available online for free. Many people use the online version every day.
Future of the Dictionary
In 2006, the project to update the A-F volumes was restarted. The parts for letters B and C were finished in 2016. These new parts are being published as they are completed.
However, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities has said that they do not plan to update the rest of the dictionary (letters G to Z). This is because it would take too much work and money to do so today.
Images for kids
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Original manuscript of the Deutsches Wörterbuch by Jacob Grimm
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The Berlin Academy of Sciences staff working to complete the Grimm dictionary, 1952
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East German commemorative stamp, 1975
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See also
In Spanish: Deutsches Wörterbuch para niños
