The Classic German Dictionary

Author : Jethro Bithell
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332114887
Total Pages : 578 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (148 download)

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Download or read book Commercial German Dictionary (Classic Reprint) written by Jethro Bithell and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Commercial German Dictionary The present dictionary, though it was actually begun before 1914, is to a great extent a war-book, for many of those words in it which here make their first appearance in a lexicon were noted down during my military service as examiner of trade correspondence during the war. To compile a complete dictionary of commercial terms would be a vast undertaking; and probably from the publishing point of view it could (in present conditions) only be a State-aided enterprise. Apart from engineering and science, which have their own (somewhat fragmentary) dictionaries, every branch of trade has its own vocabulary, its own technical terms, its own slang and abbreviations. A commercial correspondent whose firm deals, for instance, in cotton, will probably find it necessary to compile a glossary of his own; and if he transfers his activities to woollens, he will need a new one. I make no claim to have gathered all possible words and expressions into my net; I have had to content myself with compiling a dictionary which will serve for ordinary purposes, though it eliminates a great many purely literary and more or less obsolete words to make room for the general vocabulary of commerce; and I can only excuse omissions with the promise that in the event of a favourable reception there will, in due course, be an enlarged edition, for which author and publishers will be glad to receive suggestions. I have throughout given the form of the word actually used in trade rather than the etymologically correct or academic word; e.g. not "codling" (which is found in Shakespeare), but "codlin," the word found in nurserymen's catalogues, and the only form which apple-growers know. The fact is, the commercial language has a tendency to play havoc with the literary language. German grammarians, and purists in particular, are up in arms against the lingo of German trade, which they characterize as unpatriotic, puerile, and impossible. But it is surely inevitable that all commercial languages should approximate to a universal language, a Weltsprache. It is no doubt true that commercial borrowings are excluded by the genius of the language from the higher style, or the national style; no German, it has been pointed out, will dream of saying er wird nie auf eine grune Branche kommen; but it may be questioned whether Zweiggeschaft is for business purposes a more serviceable term than Branche, which can be tacked on to other words to make logically impossible combinations, Wollebranche, Kleiderbranche, and even Lumpenbranche, the rag-branch of commerce. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."