Dictionary of Historical German Legal Terms
Links to the project
The comprehensive Dictionary of historical German (and West Germanic) Legal Language explains and illustrates legally relevant vocabulary from the beginning of German written tradition (around AD 400) to 1815. Its basis is formed by an archive of roughly 2.5 million word quotations.
A volume of the Dictionary comprises 5 double fascicles of 320 columns each. The fascicles appear on a yearly basis. In addition to specifically legal terminology such as e.g. “Anwalt” (solicitor, barrister), “Miete” (payment; rent) or “Paraphernalgut” (paraphernalia, a wife’s personal property not transferred to her husband at marriage), the Dictionary of Historical German Legal Terms also describes daily legal practices as reflected in words such as “Acker” (acre), “Deichbank” (a kind of dyke alliance), “Gichtzettel” (medical report), “Kuss” (kiss), “melken” (to milk), “missverstehen” (to misunderstand), “Nachbarschaft” (neighbourhood) or “pfleglich” (usual; careful), demonstrating the specific legal aspect of many general language words.
The project was founded in 1897 by the Prussian Academy of Sciences and, since 1959, has been supervised by the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
Dictionary of Historical German Legal Terms
Host Academy
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Location and federal state
Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg
Type
German Dictionaries; Historical Dictionaries; Dictionaries of Regional and Specialist German varieties
Project number
I.A.03