Barbara Geier: New words

Hooray, good news for everyone out there thinking that there aren’t enough (long and complicated) German words out there yet. In its 29th edition, published this August, Duden has added 3,000 new words. For anyone not familiar with this German household name: The Duden dictionary is THE authority on German spelling and the overall correct use of Standard High German language. It was first published by a dude (how could I not!) called Konrad Duden in 1880 and since then, it’s been a case of “if in doubt, check Duden” for anything related to the German language.

Coming back to the new words that bring the overall number of entries to 151,000 words. Not only do we now have as many German words as never before, the newcomers are also a fascinating reflection of what has happened in Germany – and beyond – since the last Duden update four years ago. When presenting the new edition to the media, the dictionary’s editor-in-chief summed it up very nicely by saying that the biggest changes in language in recent years can essentially be reduced to three areas; crisis, wars and cooking. Or Kriege, Krisen und Kochen in German which rolls much better off the tongue, courtesy of the alliteration.

A lot of these new words are also great examples for the oh-so-German discipline of compound words, i. e. take word A, stick it on word B and bingo, you’ve got a new word that every German speaker will understand, even if they’ve never heard it before. One of the best ones, surely, must be Klimakleber, defined by Duden as a “climate activist who sticks themselves in public spaces (especially on streets) in protest”. Isn’t it great, how you can reduce to that to one word that says it all so literally – and sorry, English, you have no word to replicate that, so we don’t even try translating it. Other crisis-related words are Coronaleugner (Covid denier), Extremwettereignis (extreme weather event), Gasmangellage (gas shortage situation) and Entlastungspaket (relief package). New official German words that refer to changes in eating habits and cooking are Fleischersatz (meat substitute), Gemüsekiste (vegetable box), Tahini, Granola and Kontaktgrill (contact grill). Not surprisingly ChatGPT is now also a German word.

Apart from the add-ons, the Duden editorial team in its update also removed 300 words that are not very much in use anymore. One of them is Frigidär (refrigerator) which to me sounds as if it was last used 100 years ago (never heard it). I had also never heard of a Rationalisator (rationaliser) which was apparently used in the GRD for an employee who was tasked with rationalising things. Well, makes perfect sense. No one can accuse German words of not being logical and as descriptive as can be. And on that note, I’ll leave you to continue your Duden deep dive in your own time.

Barbara Geier is a London-based freelance writer, translator and communications consultant. She is also the face behind www.germanyiswunderbar.com, a German travel and tourism guide and blog that was set up together with UK travel writer Andrew Eames in 2010.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Discover Germany, Switzerland & Austria.