Österreichisches Wörterbuch
Encyclopedia
Das Österreichische Wörterbuch / Österreichisches Wörterbuch ([The] Austrian Dictionary, or ÖWB) is the official German dictionary
in Austria
. It is edited by a group of linguists under the authority of the Austrian ministry of education, art and culture (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). This Austrian counterpart to the German Duden
contains a lot of terms that are unique to the Austrian German
or that are more frequently used or differently pronounced there. However a considerable amount of this "Austrian" vocabulary is also common in southern parts of Germany, especially Bavaria
. The most recent edition is the 41st from 2009. Since the 39th edition from 2001 the orthography of the ÖWB was adjusted to the German spelling reform of 1996
. This dictionary is also in official use in the Italian province of South Tyrol
.
times (1879 and 1902). The first edition had 276 pages and around 20.000 entries and was designed for use in the Austrian educational system.
At that time, only six years after World War II
, Austria was still under allied administration
and the Austrian civilian government tried to cut political ties to Germany, including cultural and linguistic reminiscences to the former Nazi regime. The creation of the Austrian dictionary has to be assessed under these circumstances. The annexation of Austria
into Greater Germany in 1938 had also brought a unified official standard form of the German language, that was now revised by referring to pre-war Austrian standards and by including local vocabulary originating from Austro-Bavarian
dialects, especially but not exclusively typical Viennese
terms.
The Austrian dictionary hence defined the Austrian form of Standard German
, 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
), a medium sized version for high schools (Hauptschule
, 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
, Switzerland
and Austria, lead to considerable debates and refusal in Austria. Most newspapers switched to the reformed othography 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.
Otto Back, Erich Benedikt, Karl Blüml, Jakob Ebner and Hermann Möcker from the institute of Austrian studies (Institut für Österreichkunde), as well as the dialectogists
Maria Hornung, Professor Heinz Dieter Pohl from the University of Klagenfurt
and Emeritus professor Herbert Tatzreiter from the University of Vienna
.
There are about 3,000 new terms that were added to the 39th edition, among them a lot of Austrian neologisms like „E-Card“ for the Austrian social security card, „Hacklerregelung“, a legal term for a special retirement law, and „Pensionsharmonisierung“. From the colloquial vocabulary new terms were added like „Altenbetreuer“ (geriatric nurse), „anzipfen“ (to get fed up), „ablösefrei“ (without transfer fee), „Audiobook“, „Afro-Look“ und „Alkopops“ (soft drink with liquor). New technological terms were also added, like: „skypen“, „VoIP“, „Blog“, „Linux“ and even „Wikipedia“.
Interesting to see is, that even new terms might differ from their counterparts in Germany. The Austrian dictionary now sets the term „smsen“ (to text message, pronounced as-am-as-an) as standard, whereas the Duden uses „simsen“, both derived from the English abbreviation „SMS“ for "short message service".
On the other hand, numerous outdated word were taken from the 40th edition, either because their reference in the real world ceased to exist or because they became out of fashion. Examples are „Absperrkommando“, „affengeil“ und „Arbeitermittelschule“. However the terms „Schilling“ and „Gendarmerie
“ are still listed, although their signifiants
don't exist any more. Still included are some typical dialect terms, that continue to be used also in the written language, like the Carinthian
„Strankerl“ (common beans) or the word „Zöger“ bzw. „Zeger“ for a wicker basket
.
Other typically Austrian words in the dictionary are for example: „Dulliähstimmung“ (drunkenness), „Greißler“ (grocery shop), „Gwirkst“ (complicated situation), „Jausengegner“ (easy opponent in sports), „Käsekrainer“ (a Kranjska klobasa
), „klass“ (terrific), „Outwachler“ (a linesman
), „Pfusch“ (moonlighting), „pipifein“ (fine), „Roadpricing“, „Stockerlplatz“ (a medal rank in sports), „Szenebeisl“ (a hip nightclub), „tschechern“ (to booze), „zach“ (chewy, tough) and „zerknautschen“ (to crumple).
A curiosity had been the protest of several parents against the 39th edition. They argued that in their opinion were too many "dirty words" listed in the dictionary, of which some have been therefore removed from the school version of the 40th edition, for example the word „pempern“, which is a colloquial term for practicing sexual intercourse.
, 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 Austrianism 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 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.
German dictionary
German dictionaries have a history dating back to the Brothers Grimm, who started work on the first major dictionary of the German language, the Deutsches Wörterbuch in 1838. The Duden dictionary dates back to 1880, and is currently the prescriptive source for the spelling of German....
in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It is edited by a group of linguists under the authority of the Austrian ministry of education, art and culture (Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur). This Austrian counterpart to the German Duden
Duden
The Duden is a German dictionary, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880.Currently the Duden is in its 25th edition and published in 12 volumes, each covering different aspects like loan words, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc...
contains a lot of terms that are unique to the Austrian German
Austrian German
Austrian German , or Austrian Standard German, is the national standard variety of the German language spoken in Austria and in the autonomous Province of South Tyrol...
or that are more frequently used or differently pronounced there. However a considerable amount of this "Austrian" vocabulary is also common in southern parts of Germany, especially Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. The most recent edition is the 41st from 2009. Since the 39th edition from 2001 the orthography of the ÖWB was adjusted to the German spelling reform of 1996
German spelling reform of 1996
The German orthography reform of 1996 was an attempt to simplify the spelling of the German language and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to all living users of the language....
. This dictionary is also in official use in the Italian province of South Tyrol
South Tyrol
South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...
.
History
The first edition of the Austrian Dictionary was edited 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 IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
times (1879 and 1902). The first edition had 276 pages and around 20.000 entries and was designed for use in the Austrian educational system.
At that time, only six years after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Austria was still under allied administration
Allied-administered Austria
The Allied occupation of Austria lasted from 1945 to 1955. Austria had been regarded by Nazi Germany as a constituent part of the German state, but in 1943 the Allied powers agreed in the Declaration of Moscow that it would be regarded as the first victim of Nazi aggression, and treated as a...
and the Austrian civilian government tried to cut political ties to Germany, including cultural and linguistic reminiscences to the former Nazi regime. The creation of the Austrian dictionary has to be assessed under these circumstances. The annexation of Austria
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
into Greater Germany in 1938 had also brought a unified official standard form of the German language, that was now revised by referring to pre-war Austrian standards and by including local vocabulary originating from Austro-Bavarian
Austro-Bavarian
Bavarian , also Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south east of the German language area.-History and origin:...
dialects, especially but not exclusively typical Viennese
Viennese German
Viennese German is the city dialect spoken in Vienna, the capital of Austria and is counted among the Bavarian dialects. Even in Lower Austria, the state surrounding the city, many of its expressions are not used, while farther to the west they are often not even understood.- Linguistic...
terms.
The Austrian dictionary hence defined the Austrian form of Standard German
Standard German
Standard German is the standard variety of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas...
, 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
Volksschule
A Volksschule was an 18th century system of state-supported primary schools established in the Habsburg Austrian Empire and Prussia . Attendance was supposedly compulsory, but a 1781 census reveals that only one fourth of school-age children attended. At the time, this was one of the few examples...
), a medium sized version for high schools (Hauptschule
Hauptschule
A Hauptschule is a secondary school in Germany and Austria, starting after 4 years of elementary schooling, which offers Lower Secondary Education according to the International Standard Classification of Education...
, Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
) 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
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Austria, lead to considerable debates and refusal in Austria. Most newspapers switched to the reformed othography 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 newest 40th edition from 2006 contains in the full version around 80,000 terms on 1,008 pages. The school version is slightly reduced 864 pages, whereas the small version is limited to 20,000 terms. The authors of this edition were the linguistsLinguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
Otto Back, Erich Benedikt, Karl Blüml, Jakob Ebner and Hermann Möcker from the institute of Austrian studies (Institut für Österreichkunde), as well as the dialectogists
Dialectology
Dialectology is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their associated features...
Maria Hornung, Professor Heinz Dieter Pohl from the University of Klagenfurt
University of Klagenfurt
The University of Klagenfurt was founded in 1960 in Klagenfurt, Austria. It began as a College of Educational Studies . Since October 2004 the official German name is Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt in order to stress the intercultural connections between the Alpine regions and the Adriatic Sea...
and Emeritus professor Herbert Tatzreiter from the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
.
There are about 3,000 new terms that were added to the 39th edition, among them a lot of Austrian neologisms like „E-Card“ for the Austrian social security card, „Hacklerregelung“, a legal term for a special retirement law, and „Pensionsharmonisierung“. From the colloquial vocabulary new terms were added like „Altenbetreuer“ (geriatric nurse), „anzipfen“ (to get fed up), „ablösefrei“ (without transfer fee), „Audiobook“, „Afro-Look“ und „Alkopops“ (soft drink with liquor). New technological terms were also added, like: „skypen“, „VoIP“, „Blog“, „Linux“ and even „Wikipedia“.
Interesting to see is, that even new terms might differ from their counterparts in Germany. The Austrian dictionary now sets the term „smsen“ (to text message, pronounced as-am-as-an) as standard, whereas the Duden uses „simsen“, both derived from the English abbreviation „SMS“ for "short message service".
On the other hand, numerous outdated word were taken from the 40th edition, either because their reference in the real world ceased to exist or because they became out of fashion. Examples are „Absperrkommando“, „affengeil“ und „Arbeitermittelschule“. However the terms „Schilling“ and „Gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
“ are still listed, although their signifiants
Sign (linguistics)
There are many models of the linguistic sign . A classic model is the one by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. According to him, language is made up of signs and every sign has two sides : the signifier , the "shape" of a word, its phonic component, i.e...
don't exist any more. Still included are some typical dialect terms, that continue to be used also in the written language, like the Carinthian
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
„Strankerl“ (common beans) or the word „Zöger“ bzw. „Zeger“ for a wicker basket
Basket
A basket is a container which is traditionally constructed from stiff fibres, which can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are...
.
Other typically Austrian words in the dictionary are for example: „Dulliähstimmung“ (drunkenness), „Greißler“ (grocery shop), „Gwirkst“ (complicated situation), „Jausengegner“ (easy opponent in sports), „Käsekrainer“ (a Kranjska klobasa
Kranjska klobasa
Kranjska klobasa is a Slovenian sausage most similar to what is known as kielbasa or Polish sausage in North America....
), „klass“ (terrific), „Outwachler“ (a linesman
Assistant referee (association football)
In association football, an assistant referee is one of several officials who assist the referee in controlling a match. Two officials, traditionally known as linesmen , stand on the touchlines, while a fourth official assists administrative or other match related tasks as directed by the referee...
), „Pfusch“ (moonlighting), „pipifein“ (fine), „Roadpricing“, „Stockerlplatz“ (a medal rank in sports), „Szenebeisl“ (a hip nightclub), „tschechern“ (to booze), „zach“ (chewy, tough) and „zerknautschen“ (to crumple).
A curiosity had been the protest of several parents against the 39th edition. They argued that in their opinion were too many "dirty words" listed in the dictionary, of which some have been therefore removed from the school version of the 40th edition, for example the word „pempern“, which is a colloquial term for practicing sexual intercourse.
Language policy
The objective of the Austrian dictionary has never been to do classical language planningLanguage planning
Language planning is a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure, or acquisition of languages or language variety within a speech community. It is often associated with government planning, but is also used by a variety of non-governmental organizations, such as grass-roots...
, 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 Austrianism and language patriotism, throughout the years the dictionary commission followed a moderate policy of contrastive linguistics and tried to avoid language secessionism
Language secessionism
Language secessionism is an attitude supporting the separation of a language variety from the language to which it normally belongs, in order to make this variety considered as a distinct language...
. Nevertheless in the case of conflicting definitions the Austrian dictionary overrules the Duden 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.
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., ISBN 978-3-209-05511-8 (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., ISBN 978-3-209-05068-7 (school edition)
- Österreichisches Wörterbuch – auf der Grundlage des amtlichen Regelwerks (neue Rechtschreibung); Ebner, Jakob, u. a., 40. neu bearb. Aufl., Wien: öbv&hpt, 2006, ISBN 978-3-209-04863-9 (small version)
Secondary Literature
- Gregor Retti (1999): Austriazismen in Wörterbüchern. Zum Binnen- und Außenkodex des österreichischen Deutsch. phil. Diss. Innsbruck. http://gregor.retti.info/docs/retti1999/
- Gregor Retti (1991): Das Österreichische Wörterbuch. Entwicklung, Wortbestand, Markierungssysteme. Dipl.-Arb. Innsbruck. http://gregor.retti.info/docs/retti1991/
- Rudolf Muhr: Österreichisches Aussprachewörterbuch, österreichische Aussprachedatenbank (Adaba); inkl. CD mit 75.964 Audiofiles; Frankfurt am Main; Wien (u.a.): Lang, 2007, 524 S., ISBN 978-3-631-55414-2