The ''Etymological Dictionary of the German Language'' (), sometimes referred to simply as ''Kluge'', was published by

Friedrich Kluge Friedrich Kluge (21 June 1856 – 21 May 1926) was a German philologist and educator. He is known for the ''Etymological Dictionary of the German Language'' (), which was first published in 1883. Biography Kluge was born in Cologne. He studied ...

in 1883. It was the first German

etymological dictionary An etymological dictionary discusses the etymology of the words listed. Often, large dictionaries, such as the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' and ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Webster's'', will contain some etymological informat ...

based on

Neogrammarian The Neogrammarians (, , ) were a German school of linguists, originally at the University of Leipzig, in the late 19th century who proposed the Neogrammarian hypothesis of the regularity of sound change. Overview According to the Neogrammarian ...

principles. Over the following decades it was republished and revised many times, with Kluge as the editor being succeeded by , Alfred Schirmer, , and

Elmar Seebold Elmar Seebold (born 28 September 1934) is a German philologist who specializes in Germanic philology. From 1971 to 1983, Seebold was Professor of Germanic philology at the University of Fribourg. He then transferred to the Ludwig Maximilian ...

. It is considered a standard work among the German etymological dictionaries. The most recent edition, 25th, was released in 2011 in print, eBook and as an Android app.

Editions and editors

History

The 4th edition was translated and published in English by John Francis Davis in 1891. From the 10th to the 13 editions, between 1924 and 1943, there was a dedication on the flyleaf that read: "To the German people its German dictionary." In the 1980s, criticism grew about the state of the dictionary. It was argued that it had not been maintained with sufficient rigor and was partially outdated. One of the supporting arguments was that the 21st edition (1975) when compared to the previous edition had remained unchanged. As a result of this criticism a new editor for the dictionary was selected, Elmar Seebold.Oddvar Nes: ''Etymologiske ordbøker over germanske språk.'' In: Mål og Minne, 1 (1991), S. 19–56

Influence

After the publication and success of the 1st edition in 1883, ''Etymological Dictionary of the German Language'' became a major source, reference and format guide for etymological dictionaries of other languages. Examples: *

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

– (1892) by Johannes Franck *

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

– (1885) by Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp *

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

– (1922) by Elof Hellquist *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

– ''An etymological dictionary of the English language'' (1893) by

Walter William Skeat Walter William Skeat, (21 November 18356 October 1912) was a British philologist and Anglican deacon. The pre-eminent British philologist of his time, he was instrumental in developing the English language as a higher education subject in th ...

* Danish – by Niels Åge Nielsen

References

External links

* {{wikisource-inline, An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, single=true 1883 non-fiction books German dictionaries