Österreichisches Wörterbuch
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The (; English: "Austrian Dictionary"), abbreviated ''ÖWB'', is the official spelling dictionary of
Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...
in
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, i.e. of Austrian Standard German. It has been edited since 1948 by a group of linguists under the authority of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (''Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur'') and contains a number of terms unique to, distinct or characteristic for Austrian German. Such Austrianisms may be more frequently or differently used or pronounced compared to other German-speaking areas. A considerable amount of this Austrian vocabulary is also common in
Southern Germany Southern Germany (, ) is a region of Germany that includes the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, which includes the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia in present-day Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and the southern portion of Hesse ...
, especially
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, and some of it is used in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
as well. The most recent edition is the 44th from 2022. Since the 39th edition from 2001 the orthography of the ''ÖWB'' was adjusted to the
German spelling reform of 1996 The German orthography reform of 1996 (') was a change to German spelling and punctuation that was intended to simplify German orthography and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to users of the lan ...
.


History

The first edition of the Austrian Dictionary was published in 1951 on an initiative from the then Austrian minister of education Felix Hurdes. It replaced the old "''Regeln für die deutsche Rechtschreibung nebst Wörterbuch''", a standard work for the German orthography that dated back to pre-
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
times (1879 and 1902), although during Austria's Nazi years 1938-1945, the German Duden works were "gleichgeschaltet", i.e. supplanted the 1902 Austrian rulebook. The first edition had 276 pages and around 20,000 entries and was designed for use in the Austrian educational system and is today considered, after decades of intense criticism by academic Germanists, a "courageous sociolinguistic-political project." The Austrian dictionary hence defined the Austrian form of
Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...
, making it official and obligatory for use in schools and in public administration. For private persons, the business correspondence of companies, publishing houses and newspapers it remained an orthographic recommendation. Since then it was republished and expanded in numerous editions, that were each published in three different versions: a reduced version for primary schools (''
Volksschule The German term ''Volksschule'' () generally refers to compulsory education, denoting an educational institution every person (i.e. the people, ''Volk'') is required to attend. In Germany and Switzerland it is equivalent to a combined primar ...
''), a medium sized version for high schools (''
Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
, Gymnasium'') and a full version for the general public. The 35th edition from 1979 was considerably expanded in the listed vocabulary and with the 39th edition from 2001 the reformed German orthography was adopted. This new standardized orthography, that was determined by an international group of experts from
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
and Austria, led to considerable debates and refusal in Austria. Most newspapers switched to the reformed orthography but some later revoked their decisions and now use either the old version or a separate in-house orthography (''Hausrechtschreibung''). The Austrian dictionary remained with the reformed orthography, only at terms that are differently pronounced in Austria, the orthography differs from the German standard. Nevertheless the ÖWB still includes a considerable amount of unique vocabulary, that was even expanded in the newest 40th edition.


Characteristics

The full version of the 2006 40th edition contains around 80,000 terms on 1,008 pages. The school version is 864 pages, and the small version has 20,000 terms. The authors of this edition were the
linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...
Otto Back, Erich Benedikt, Karl Blüml, Jakob Ebner and Hermann Möcker from the Institute of Austrian Studies (''Institut für Österreichkunde''), as well as the dialectologists Maria Hornung, professor Heinz Dieter Pohl from the
University of Klagenfurt The University of Klagenfurt ( or ''Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt'', AAU) is a federal Austrian research university and the largest research and higher education institution in the States of Austria, state of Carinthia. It has its campus in ...
and
emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
Herbert Tatzreiter from the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
. About 3,000 new terms were added to the 39th edition, among them Austrian
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
s such as "''E-Card''" for the Austrian social security card, "'", a legal term for a special retirement law, and "'". From the colloquial vocabulary new terms were added such as "'" (geriatric nurse), "'" (to get fed up), "'" (without transfer fee), „''Audiobook''“, „''Afro-Look''“ und „''Alkopops''“ (soft drink with liquor). New technological terms were also added, like: "'", "'", "'", "''Linux''" and even "''Wikipedia''". New terms might differ from their counterparts in Germany. The Austrian dictionary now sets the term "'" (to text message, pronounced as-am-as-an) as standard, whereas the Duden uses "'", both derived from the English abbreviation "''SMS''" for "''short message service''". Numerous outdated words were removed from the 40th edition, either because their reference in the real world ceased to exist or because they became out of fashion. Examples are "'", "'" und "'". However, the terms "''
Schilling Schilling may refer to: * Schilling (unit), an historical unit of measurement * Schilling (coin), the historical European coin ** Shilling, currency historically used in Europe and currently used in the East African Community ** Austrian schilling ...
''" and "'" are listed, although their signifiants no longer exist. Still included are some typical dialect terms, that continue to be used in the written language, such as the Carinthian "'" ( common beans) or the word "'" or "'" for a wicker
basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff Fiber, fibers, and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, Stolon, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials ...
. Other typically Austrian words in the dictionary are for example: ''" ( drunkenness), "'" (grocery shop), "'" (complicated situation), "'" (easy opponent in sports), "'" (a cheese-filled
Carniolan sausage The Carniolan sausage (, , , , Italian dialect of Trieste: ''luganighe de Cragno'') is a Slovenian parboiled sausage similar to what is known as kielbasa or Polish sausage in North America. The noun ''klobasa'' refers to a small sausage gene ...
), "'" (terrific), "'" (a linesman), "'" (
unreported employment Unreported employment, also known as unlawful employment, illegal employment, working under the table or off the books is employment that is illegal and not reported to the government. The employer or the employee often does so for tax evasion ...
), "'" (fine), "'", "'" (a medal rank in sports), "'" (a hip nightclub), "'" (to booze), "'" (chewy, tough) and "'" (to crumple). Some parents protested against the 39th edition, arguing that there were too many "dirty words" listed, some of which have subsequently been removed from the school version of the 40th edition.


Language policy

The objective of the Austrian dictionary has never been to do classical
language planning In sociolinguistics, language planning (also known as language engineering) is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure or acquisition of languages or language varieties within a speech community.Kaplan B., Robert, and Rich ...
, but to do a re-codification of the form of the German language used in Austria. New terms were only included to the dictionary, when they had already been in considerable use in newspapers and contemporary literature. Although the dictionary was originally designed to promote Austrianisms and language patriotism, throughout the years the dictionary commission followed a moderate policy of contrastive linguistics and tried to avoid language secessionism. Nevertheless in the case of conflicting definitions the Austrian dictionary overrules the
Duden The Duden () is a dictionary of the Standard High German language, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880, and later by Bibliographisches Institut GmbH, which was merged into Cornelsen Verlag in 2022. The Duden is updated regularly with ...
and remains the sole source for defining the Austrian standard. In post-World War II Austria the German Duden never had any legal authority, although informally it is also widely in use as a work of reference. The ÖWB has codified a Standard Austrian German and has thus challenged what some linguists consider a One Standard German Axiom. In academic research ÖWB plays, to this date, very little role and receives no academic research support.


See also

*
Austrian German Austrian German (), Austrian Standard German (ASG), Standard Austrian German (), Austrian High German (), or simply just Austrian (), is the variety of Standard German written and spoken in Austria and South Tyrol. It has the highest prestige ( ...
*
Austro-Bavarian Bavarian (; ), alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south-east of the German language area, including the German state of Bavaria, most of Austria, and South Tyrol in Italy. Prior to 1945, Bavaria ...
* ''
Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.List of German dictionaries A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...


References


Literature

* ''Österreichisches Wörterbuch – auf der Grundlage des amtlichen Regelwerks (neue Rechtschreibung)''; herausgegeben im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur; Bearb.: Otto Back et al., Redaktion: Herbert Fussy et al., 40. neu bearb. Aufl., Wien: öbv&hpt, 2006, 1008 S., (full version) * ''Österreichisches Wörterbuch – auf der Grundlage des amtlichen Regelwerks (neue Rechtschreibung)''; herausgegeben im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur; Bearb.: Otto Back et al., Redaktion: Herbert Fussy et al., 40. neu bearb. Aufl., Wien: öbv&hpt, 2006, 864 S., (school edition) * ''Österreichisches Wörterbuch – auf der Grundlage des amtlichen Regelwerks (neue Rechtschreibung)''; Ebner, Jakob, u. a., 40. neu bearb. Aufl., Wien: öbv&hpt, 2006, (small version)


Further reading

* Gregor Retti (1999): ''Austriazismen in Wörterbüchern. Zum Binnen- und Außenkodex des österreichischen Deutsch''. phil. Diss. Innsbruck

* Gregor Retti (1991): ''Das Österreichische Wörterbuch. Entwicklung, Wortbestand, Markierungssysteme''. Dipl.-Arb. Innsbruck

* Rudolf Muhr: ''Österreichisches Aussprachewörterbuch, österreichische Aussprachedatenbank (Adaba)''; inkl. CD mit 75.964 Audiofiles; Frankfurt am Main; Wien (u.a.): Lang, 2007, 524 S., {{DEFAULTSORT:Osterreichisches Worterbuch German dictionaries Languages of Austria Spelling dictionaries