List of German dictionaries

This list includes notable historic, standardized, and common-use dictionaries of the German language. The beginnings of German dictionaries date back to a series of glossaries from the 8th century CE. The first comprehensive German dictionary, the ''Deutsches Wörterbuch in 1838. The ''Duden'' dictionary, begun in 1880 and now in its 25th edition, is currently the prescriptive source for the spelling of German. The official dictionary for Austrian German, the ''Österreichisches Wörterbuch'' (ÖWB), is published by the Austrian Federal Government and is now in its 41st edition.

Older German dictionaries

* The precursor German dictionaries were glossaries, of which the ''Abrogans'' from the 8th century is the oldest known.
* Petrus Dasypodius, ''Dictionarium Latinogermanicum'', 1535
* ''Frisius'' ( Johannes Fries, ''Dictionarium Latinogermanicum'', 1541, 1556)
* ''Pictorius'' (Josua Maaler, ''Die Teütsch spraach'', 1556)
* ''Adelung'' (''Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart'') by Johann Christoph Adelung, first edition 1781. The first major overall linguistic dictionary of the German language.
* ''Handwörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'', a pocket dictionary by Johann Christian August Heyse, continued by his son Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Heyse, 1833–1849
* ''Deutsches Wörterbuch and Wilhelm Grimm. The first comprehensive German dictionary developed on historical principles. Begun in 1838, first published in 1854, completed in 1961, supplemented 1971.
* ''Technologisches Wörterbuch'' of German, French and English and other languages by Johann Adam Beil, 1853. An early technical dictionary.
* ''Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'' by Daniel Sanders (1860–1865)
* ''der Duden'', the spelling dictionary of Konrad Duden, first edition 1880
* '' Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'' von Friedrich Kluge, first edition 1883. Now in its 24th edition on CD-Rom by de Gruyter, 2002
* ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' by Moritz Heyne, 1890–1895

Regional and multi-volume dialect dictionaries

''The list contains the (more or less) recent, regional, and multi-volume dictionaries that have been compiled using scholarly principles. For the historical ones see the article Idiotikon.''
* (1925ff.)
* (1995ff.)
* (1968–2001)
* (1971–1985)
*
* (1985–2006)
* (1957ff.)
* (1927ff.)
* (1954–1975)
* (1937–1992)
* (2002ff.)
* (1981)
* (1953/65ff.)
*
* (1968–2006)
*
* (1965–1998)
* (1997ff.)
* (1981–2005)
* (1928–1971)
* (1963–1965)
* Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wörterbuch (1906, 1925/1927–1935)
* (1901–1936)
* Schweizerisches Idiotikon (1881ff.)
* (1924–1931, 1971ff.)
* (1988ff.)
* (1965/68–2010)
* (1966/99–2006)
* (1960–1965)
* (1969ff.)
* (1963ff.)
* (2013ff.)
* (1909)
* (1997–2005)
* (1899–1907)
* (1978–2003)
*

Current German dictionaries

* '' Collins German-English English-German Dictionary'', by J. M. Clark. London/Glasgow: Collins. First published 1953.
* ''Brockhaus Wahrig Deutsches Wörterbuch'', 9th edition (2011); a large dictionary in 6 volumes originally published by Gerhard Wahrig, now at Bertelsmann. The publisher reports it is discontinued (2012).
* ''DUDEN - Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'' (GWDS or GWB), 4th edition (2012), only CD-ROM
* ''Duden'', a twelve-volume series of specialized dictionaries, 25th edition (2012).
* ''Duden Universalwörterbuch'' (DUW): a single-volume general overall linguistic dictionary, now in its 9th edition (2019)
* ''Handwörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache'' (1984), published by Kempcke in 2 volumes
* Hermann Pauls ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'', 10th edition (2002)
* Langenscheidts ''Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache'' (1993), published by Kempcke
* Lutz Mackensens ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'', 13th edition (1986; reprinted 2002 & 2006) with specialized information on spelling, grammar, style, words, symbols and abbreviations, pronunciation and history of German vocabulary
* ''Österreichisches Wörterbuch'' (ÖWB), 42nd edition (2012): The official dictionary of the German language for Austria. It is published by the Austrian Federal Publisher in Vienna.
*Oxford German Dictionary Third Edition: Oxford. Published: 10 July 2008.
* PONS ''Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache'' (2011), edited by Werner Wolski & Andreas Cyffka
* ''Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen'' (2004): describes regional variations of standard German.
* ''Wörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache'' (2000) by de Gruyter
* ''Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache''
WDG
, published in 1961-77 in 6 volumes by the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic

See also

* :Dictionaries by language

Bibliography

* Franz Claes: ''Bibliographisches Verzeichnis der deutschen Vokabulare und Wörterbücher, gedruckt bis 1600''. Hildesheim: Olms, 1977
* Ulrike Haß-Zumkehr: ''Deutsche Wörterbücher. Brennpunkt von Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte''. Berlin/New York 2001.
* Peter Kühn: '' Deutsche Wörterbücher: eine systematische Bibliographie''. Tübingen: Niemeyer 1978
* Burkhard Schaeder: ''Kleine Bibliographie deutscher Wörterbücher - systematisch geordnet: Enzyklopädien, Fachwörterbücher, allgemeine Sprachwörterbücher, spezielle Sprachwörterbücher''. Siegen: Siegener Institut für Sprachen im Beruf, 2000
* Herbert Ernst Wiegand: ''Wörterbuchforschung: Untersuchungen zur Wörterbuchbenutzung, zur Theorie, Geschichte, Kritik und Automatisierung der Lexikographie''. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 2000.
* Herbert Ernst Wiegand: ''Die deutsche Lexikographie der Gegenwart. In: v. Franz Josef Hausmann, Oskar Reichmann, Herbert Ernst Wiegand, Ladislav Zgusta (eds.) ''Wörterbücher, Dictionaries, Dictionnaires. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie.'' Berlin/New York 1990, 2100–2246.
* Wolfram Zaunmüller: ''Bibliographisches Handbuch der Sprachwörterbücher, ein internationales Verzeichnis von 5600 Wörterbüchern der Jahre 1460 - 1958 für mehr als 500 Sprachen und Dialekte''. Stuttgart: Hiersemann 1958

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