Dictionaries 1994/1

1994

AM - Dictionaries

94-1-032

Duden "Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache" [The Great Dictionary of the German Language] ["DudenGW"]: in eight volumes / comp. and ed. by the "Wissenschaftlicher Rat" ("Scholarly Council") and the Duden editorial staff under the guidance of Gunther Drosdowski. - 2nd ed., completely revised and greatly expanded. - Mannheim : Dudenverlag. - 25 cm. - ISBN 3-411-04732-1 (complete set) : DM 592.00

This completely reworked comprehensive dictionary of the German language has essentially no competition. The six-volume Wörterbuch der deutschen Gegenwartssprache from the ex-GDR is out of print, Brockhaus-Wahrig merged with Duden's own Bibliographic Institute at the completion of its six-volume first edition, and the multi-volume Grimm Brothers' Deutsches Wörterbuch cannot be compared for contemporary usage. The "DudenGW" benefits from being based on an updated text corpus of approx. 1200 titles, but it suffers from seemingly arbitrary extracts from those sources and from a profusion of lemmata redundant to their root forms. Whoever can do without the antiquated words of the German literary classics and without specialized professional jargon is as well served by Duden's one-volume Deutsches Universalwörterbuch. [sh/rdh]

94-1-035

Das Große Lexikon der sprichwörtlichen Redensarten [The Great Dictionary of Proverbial Expressions] / Lutz Rohrich. - [New edition.] - Freiburg [etc.] : Herder. - 25 cm. - Earlier title: Röhrich, Lutz : Lexikon der sprichwörtlichen Redensarten. - ISBN 3-451-22080-6 (complete work)

Vol. 1. A to Ham. - 1991. - 638 p. : ill. - ISBN 3-451-22081-4 : DM 165.00

Vol. 2. Han to Sai. - 1992. - p. 639-1273 : ill. - ISBN 3-451-22082-2: DM 165.00

Vol. 3. Sal to Z. - 1992. -p. 1275-1910 : ill. - ISBN 3-451-22083-0: DM 165.00

94-1-036

Duden "Redewendungen und sprichwörtliche Redensarten" : Wörterbuch der deutschen Idiomatik [Duden Expressions and Proverbial Expressions: Dictionary of German Idioms] / compiled by Gunther Drosdowski and Werner Scholze-Stubenrecht. - Mannheim [etc.] : Dudenverlag, 1992. - 864 p. ; 20 cm. - (Der Duden ; 11). - ISBN 3-411-04111-0 : DM 34.00

The work by Röhrich, expanded by 50% from the highly successful Lexikon der sprichwörtlichen Redensarten first published in 1973, has approximately 15,000 entries. The emphasis is cultural-historical rather than linguistic, but with illustrations, contemporary idioms and indications of parallel foreign expressions, the work has broad appeal. There are bibliographical references at the end of the articles and a bibliography of ca. 1,500 titles at the end of vol. 3, contributed by the eminent scholar Wolfgang Mieder.

The Duden has over 10,000 entries. Although it also uses examples to illustrate the historical origin of the idioms, the entries are briefer than Röhrich and the emphasis is more linguistic. For daily work, the Duden will serve well as a quick reference. The work by Röhrich will be appreciated by the researcher who is looking for fuller explanations. [sh/mrh]

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