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 new editions appearing every four or five years., it is in its 29th edition. It is printed as twelve volumes, with each volume covering different aspects of the German language such as loanwords, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc.
The first of these volumes, Die deutsche Rechtschreibung, has long been the prescriptive source for Standard High German spelling. The Duden has become the most widely used language resource of the Standard High German language, stating the rules regarding grammar, spelling and use of Standard High German language. In Austria, the Österreichisches Wörterbuch takes that role.
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History

Konrad Duden's ''Schleizer Duden'' (1872) and ''Urduden'' (1880)

In 1872, Konrad Duden, then headmaster of a Gymnasium , had his treatise Die deutsche Orthoschrift published by B.G. Teubner in Leipzig. That book included both a dictionary and spelling rules for school use. Often known as the Schleizer Duden—the author was then the headmaster of a Gymnasium in Schleiz, now in Thuringia—the work significantly influenced a debate about German spelling and became the template for subsequent dictionaries.
Eight years later, having moved to a grammar school in Hersfeld as headmaster, Konrad Duden's main work was published, considerably expanded from the Schleizer Duden. The first edition of this new work, Vollständiges Orthographisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, later sometimes referred to by the publisher as Urduden, was published in Leipzig and was the first major complete dictionary of German. This first Duden collected 28,000 keywords on 187 pages and subsequently prevailed throughout the German Empire as a standard reference work. From 1892, its spellings also became binding in Switzerland.

From 1901 to 1996

In 1902, the Bundesrat confirmed the Duden as the official standard for German spelling; Austria-Hungary and Switzerland soon followed suit. In the ensuing decades, the Duden continued to be the de facto standard for German orthography. After World War II this tradition continued separately in East and West Germany, in Leipzig and Mannheim, respectively.
In West Germany, some publishing houses began to attack the Duden "monopoly" in the 1950s, publishing dictionaries which contained alternative spellings. In reaction, in November 1955, the ministers of culture of the states of Germany confirmed the spellings given by the Duden would continue to be the official standard.

Reform Duden

On the cover of the Duden, 25th Edition, Volume 1, these words are printed in red letters: Das umfassende Standardwerk auf der Grundlage der aktuellen amtlichen Regeln. This translates as: "The comprehensive standard reference based on the current official rules."
The "current official rules" are the result of the German orthography reform of 1996.

Volumes

  1. Die deutsche Rechtschreibung – The German Orthography
  2. Das Stilwörterbuch – The Dictionary of Style
  3. Das Bildwörterbuch – The Pictorial Dictionary
  4. Die Grammatik – The Grammar
  5. Das Fremdwörterbuch – The Dictionary of Foreign Words
  6. Das Aussprachewörterbuch – The Pronouncing Dictionary
  7. Das Herkunftswörterbuch – The Etymological Dictionary
  8. Das Synonymwörterbuch – The Synonym-Dictionary
  9. Richtiges und gutes Deutsch – Correct and Good German
  10. Das Bedeutungswörterbuch – The Meaning-Dictionary
  11. Redewendungen – Figures of Speech
  12. Zitate und Aussprüche – ''Quotations and Sayings''

Literature

  • Betz, Werner. Verändert Sprache die Welt: Semantik, Politik und Manipulation . Edition Interfrom AG: Zürich, 1977.
  • Hellmann, Manfred W. Zum Öffentlichen Sprachgebrauch in Bundesrepublik Deutschland und in der DDR . Düsseldorf: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann, 1973.
  • Reich, Hans H. Sprache und Politik: Untersuchungen zu Wortschatz und Wortwahl des offiziellen Sprachgebrauchs in der DDR . Munich: Max Hueber Verlag, 1968.
  • Schlosser, Horst Dieter. Kommunikationsbedingungen und Alltagssprache in der ehemaligen DDR . Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1991.
  • Siegl, Elke Annalene. Duden-Ost, Duden-West: Zur Sprache in Deutschland seit 1945: ein Vergleich der Leipziger und der Mannheimer Dudenauflagen seit 1947 . Düsseldorf: Schwann, 1989.