page_title: Deutsches Wörterbuch
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Deutsches Wörterbuch / History
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Akademie der Wissenschaften, Bibliothek Die Geisteswissenschaftliche Abteilung der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften arbeitet an der Fertigstellung des Grimm'schen Wörterbuches. s.Begleittext UBz: Blick in die Bibliothek der Abteilung Grimm Wörterbuch. Zentralbild-Schack 5.2.52 Leihweise Zentral Bild
context_page_description: The Deutsches Wörterbuch, abbreviated DWB, is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence. Encompassing modern High German vocabulary in use since 1450, it also includes loanwords adopted from other languages into German. Entries cover the etymology, meanings, attested forms, synonyms, usage peculiarities, and regional differences of words found throughout the German speaking world. The dictionary's historical linguistics approach, illuminated by examples from primary source documents, makes it to German what the Oxford English Dictionary is to English. The first completed DWB lists over 330,000 headwords in 67,000 print columns spanning 32 volumes.
  The Deutsches Wörterbuch was begun by the Brothers Grimm in 1838 and the initial volumes were published in 1854. Unfinished at the time of their deaths, the dictionary was finally completed by a succession of later scholars and institutions in 1961. In 1971, a 33rd supplement volume was published containing 25,000 additional entries. New research projects began in 2004 to expand and update the oldest parts of the dictionary to modern academic standards.
caption: The Berlin Academy of Sciences staff working to complete the Grimm dictionary, 1952
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