The Etymological Dictionary of the German Language (German: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache), sometimes referred to simply as Kluge, was published by Friedrich Kluge in 1883. It was the first German etymological dictionary based on Neogrammarian principles.[1] Over the following decades it was republished and revised many times, with Kluge as the editor being succeeded by Alfred Götze [de], Alfred Schirmer, Walther Mitzka [de], and Elmar Seebold. 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.
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 It was argued that it had not been maintained with sufficient rigor and was partially outdated.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.[3]
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 – Etymologisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (1892) by Johannes Franck
Old Norse – Etymologisk Ordbog over det norske og det danske sprog (1885) by Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp
Swedish – Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1922) by Elof Hellquist
Danish – Dansk etymologisk ordbog by Niels Åge Nielsen[3]
References
^Liberman, Anatoly (2024). "Linguistics and Philology in Dictionaries". In Finegan, Edward; Adams, Michael (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of the Dictionary. Cambridge / New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 462.
