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Abbreviation (in German: Abkürzung) is a common feature of the German language, with many organizations, people, places, things, and concepts known by abbreviations. German is famous for very long compound words which German speakers frequently shorten. Even small words can receive the treatment, such as the preposition von shortened to just v. The German tendency to abbreviate to an excessive or whimsical degree even has its own abbreviated term: Aküfi, for Abkürzungsfimmel, or "the strange habit of abbreviating."

As in English, German abbreviations take the form of acronyms, initialisms, and colloquial shortenings. German is notable for a particular style of acronym known as "syllable words" (German: Silbenkurzwörter), formed from fragments of a longer word or phrase. Examples include Adidas and Gestapo, many of which have also entered English as loanwords. English acronyms have also made their way into German, such as Laser and NATO. Latin abbreviations are found in written German, such as etc., with others having the same meaning but their own German version, such as A.o.o. for loc. cit. SMS abbreviations are commonly used by German speakers in text messaging, with many derived from English as a form of Denglisch. Abbreviations also appear frequently in old German documents, such as d. for den (the) before a date, as in d. 2te Februar (the second of February) and geb. for geboren, meaning nèe.

"grotesquely long"

"Some German words are so long that they have a perspective. These things are not words, they are alphabetical processions. And they are not rare; one can open a German newspaper at any time and see them marching majestically across the page." Mark Twain

world-famous for its unbelievably long compound words DW https://www.dw.com/en/10-german-words-non-germans-cant-pronounce/a-18173048

Types

German abbreviations

It is a matter of some dispute among English language and style guide experts as to whether abbreviations not pronounced "as words" can be legitimately called an acronym. Nor do they agree on the correct use of space, case, and punctuation. In German the distinction is more clear, with categorization dependent on use, pronunciation and punctuation.

• Written abbreviations

As in English or Latin, common German written abbreviations consist of a letter, letters or partial words extracted from a longer word or phrase and often, but not always, punctuated. They are pronounced just like the full word when read aloud, such as beispeilweise for bspw. ("for example"). Unlike English, which has largely dispensed with punctuation in abbreviations, the placement of capital letters and periods is important in German abbreviation.>DARTMOUTH>.

• Initialisms

An initialism is a type of abbreviation where the initials are formed from the first letters of several words in a phrase and pronounced separately, e.g. EU for European Union and DDR for German Democratic Republic. These are typically found in legal, commercial, government, medical, scientific and technical uses. In German, initialisms retain the grammatical gender of their primary noun. DARTMOUTH

• Acronyms

An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of initials of words in the original phrase, written without periods, and pronounced as if it were a word.

• Syllabic abbreviation

These terms differ in the extreme. Their registers vary from officialese to colloquialisms to obscene slang, and they can designate organizations (or their members), geographical entities, commercial entities, occupations, procedures, stereotypes, or things. German speakers especially tend towards abbreviating longer words or phrases into "syllable words". These are created by combining the first two or three letters of each syllable in the word or phrase being abbreviated. For example, the brand Haribo comes from the name of its creator Hans Riegel and the city where it was created, Bonn. Other examples have become standalone words of their own, such as Gestapo for Geheime Staatspolizei. A prime example of this is the word Vokuhila (vorne kurz, hinten lang; "short in the front, long in the back"), otherwise known as a mullet.///DW A version of this is the "mixed word" (German: Mischkurzwort

• Colloquial shortenings

English-speakers, in a process that linguists call "apocope," often cut off the end of a longer word (e.g. "curio," "hippo"). In German, this term frequently describes just the colloquial dropping of a schwa, as in: "Ich geb' es dir," but here we are concerned with deliberate shortenings, such as Akku (storage battery) instead of Akkumulator, Deo rather than Deodorant, Prof for Professor.

• • Shortened noun Another way German speakers create abbreviations is through Apocope, the process of cutting off the ends of a longer words (e.g. "hippo" in English). In German, examples include Akku for Akkumulator (Storage Battery) and Deo for Deodorant. Shortenings ending in -i are particularly common and several have found their way into the language as standalone words, such Nazi and Stasi. There are two distinct methods of abbreviating words using the -i ending:
  • Shortened noun ending with -i: In casual conversation, German-speakers use Kuli instead of Kugelschreiber (ball-point pen) and Pulli instead of Pullover (sweater). The shortened word retains the grammatical gender of the original and the plural is formed by adding an -s to the end (Kulis, Pullis).
  • Hypocoristic -i. German speakers often use -i in nicknames (such as Andi or Timmi) similar to the way English speakers use the suffixes -y or -ie (such as "Timmy" or "sweetie"). This method is also used for terms of endearment in words like Mausi (little mouse).
  • The personalizing -i or -o:

An -i is also often added simply to indicate a person, without any hypocoristic implication. Hence: Ami (American); Profi (a professional); Ossi (a person from the former East Germany); Wessi (someone from the West). (Compare the English -y or -ie: "lefty," "commie," "alkie" [alcoholic], "bookie," "druggie," "preemie" [a baby born prematurely]).

An -o can serve the same purpose (Compare the English "weirdo" or "wino"). Thus the internecine struggle within the Green Party in the 1980s and early '90s was between the Fundis (fundamentalists) and the Realos (realists).

History

Example of 15th-century Latin manuscript text with scribal abbreviations, Cologne Cathedral, Cologne

A delateur from Kurrent script

The conventions for abbreviations in medieval manuscripts also shorten common nouns sacra, continue some of the “Tironic notes” and expand the use of the abbreviations. The overwritten line is known, for example, which was used as a doubling sign of m in German Kurrent script until the 20th century. Some abbreviations were only used by a few or a few scribes.

At least one author has argued for mutual intelligibility among most Germanic languages In support of this view, Einhard writes in the 9th century that “all the rough and uncivilized peoples inhabiting Germany between the Rhine and Vistula rivers, the ocean and the Danube... almost all speak a similar language.”

• Middle Ages Abbreviations became particularly rich with the high demand for books in late medieval universities in the Holy Roman Empire. Even though the need decreased significantly as movable type became more commonplace, many abbreviations are in the typeset of the Gutenberg Bible,

• Nazi - The Nazi's were heavy adopters of abbreviation. By 1944 the pleathora of DW

• Postwar. By the 1950's, apart from scientific and technical application, initialisms were quite rare in political and social life. The association for the defense of anti-Semitism was briefly called the defense association, the National Liberal Party not about NLP, but Nat. Lib. Konrad Adenauer, born in 1876, abbreviated the FDP with Dem. And the SPD with Soz. Dem. From. It was common to abbreviate first names, which were often easy to decipher because of the small number of choices: Frd. for Friedrich, Joh. for Johann etc.

In the latter half of the 20th century there was a plethora of abbreviations, which contemporaries already noticed. Large bureaucratic organizations (UN, SED state, public administrations in general, the military, large companies, etc.) have or had extensive abbreviation systems in use. Since the Stasi reports should not be read so easily by everyone, they used up to 2,600 abbreviations. There are also preferences for abbreviations in individual national languages ​​and political systems, e.g. B. in the Russian language, German words and official names are often very long in their unabridged form. Abbreviations, like written language, require systems of convention so that they can be understood by the group concerned.

Spelling and pronunciation

Spelling and pronunciation after the spelling reform 1996/2004/2006 Whether an abbreviation is written with or without a period basically depends on whether it is also pronounced abbreviated. Current rules and recommendations for spelling can be found, for example, in the changes to the German spelling reform of 1996 and in DIN 5008.

Abbreviations without periods and spaces

If an abbreviation is spoken as a sequence of individual letters (an initialism), it is generally written without a period and always without spaces . [2]

Examples: ARD , GmbH , StGB , StVO , USSR , UNHCR

Units of measure are spoken as a word, but are still abbreviated without a point (note the space between the measure and the unit to improve readability). In this space, it should be possible, a narrow , non-breaking space act (narrow non-breaking space) to prevent a line break at the location.

Example: 10 m (pronounced "10 meters ") [2]

In the Federal Armed Forces, the Austrian Federal Armed Forces, in the Swiss Army and in civil and disaster control, constitutional organs, ranks, weapons and vehicles are often abbreviated without a point. [3] [4] [5]

Examples (Switzerland): Lt (lieutenant), Flösch (fire extinguisher), Hptm (captain), Stgw (assault rifle, but in Austria: StG), Spz (armored personnel carrier) ...

For railroad station names, the addition in brackets (in the example: (Westf)) and the abbreviation of the station type (in the example: Hbf) are written without a point.

Examples: Münster (Westf) Hbf, Brake (b Bielefeld), Herborn (Dillkr)

In Austria, for example , it is allowed to abbreviate as eg without periods and spaces . [6]

Abbreviations with punctuation

Abbreviations that are not pronounced abbreviated are always abbreviated with dots, for example "Dr."

Multi-part abbreviations

If the abbreviation consists of several parts, there are narrow spaces between the parts in the German-speaking world , e.g. B., d. Hi. d. R., sat. gesch., but not in English (eg, am). [7]

Exceptions are the widespread "etc.", which appears instead of the actually correct "u. s. w. ”as an abbreviation for“ and so on ”, as well as the Latin variant“ etc. ”or“ & c. ”for“ et cetera ”as well as the increasing form“ etc. ” pp. ”for“ et cetera perge perge ”and“ ff. ”for“ following (pages) ”(not“ following ”). Further exceptions are “svw.” For “as much as” and (especially in logic) “iff” for “exactly if”.

Line breaks within these abbreviations should be avoided. In word processing , a protected space or the omission of a space can be implemented. If available, the space used should be narrower than that used between normal words, a narrow space that also prevents a line break at this point. In HTML , the code for a non-breaking space  , a small non-breaking space is  (decimal), or  (hexadecimal). Instead z. B.of “z. B. "or z. B.for" z. B. “can be used in HTML z. B.for“ z. B. “write.

However, the abbreviation with periods but no spaces is often used. This spelling cannot be found in the spelling rules in Duden. [2]

At the end of a sentence

The last period of an abbreviation is merged with the period at the end of a sentence. However, the last period of an abbreviation does not merge with any other punctuation mark than the period.

Examples:

A rainbow contains the colors blue, purple, red, etc. These are the spectral colors. Spectral colors are the colors blue, purple, red, etc.!

Lower case abbreviations

Latin expressions that are abbreviated, in particular, are abbreviated with a point, although the abbreviations are often spoken in abbreviated form. They are usually written in lower case and would therefore not be easily recognizable as abbreviations without dots.

Examples: c. t., s. t. (see academic time )

Mixing abbreviations

It is also possible to combine abbreviations with and without a point.

Examples: Gebäudereinigungsges. mbH

Plural formation and declension

The declination of abbreviations is rather unusual, but basically possible. A distinction is made between abbreviations with a point: If they end (undeclined) with the last letter of the full form (e.g. Hr. ), The declination ending is appended immediately (e.g. Hrn. (= Mr.)), otherwise the ending is added after the point ( e.g. century becomes century e (= centuries)), for abbreviations without a point the ending is simply added (e.g. the bra ). The same rules apply to the formation of the female form (e.g. Prof.in (= professor)). [2]

The plural of abbreviations is still occasionally expressed by a letter doubling (z. B. Jgg. (= Grades), et seq. (= Following)). In addition, unless the abbreviation is used unchanged, the plural is always formed by an appended s (e.g. CDs ), even if the full form has a different plural ending (e.g. AGs, PKWs ). Exceptions are only a few (mostly technical) abbreviations that are never used in the spoken language (e.g. RAe (= lawyers)). [8] Especially with female abbreviations are recommended to use the plural sto avoid confusion with the singular (e.g. GmbH / GmbHs ). [2]

Writing style

Excessive use of abbreviations in normal reading texts (as opposed to technical or reference texts) is considered a bad writing style . For a better understanding, authors should use the written terms. Are abbreviations for phrases like “u. a. ”or for filler words , these can be avoided with elegant wording.

Abbreviations in individual subject areas

Abreviations in the legal field

It is common practice for laws , ordinances and the like to save space and thus pages, abbreviations without periods and spaces and often also with inner capitals:

Examples: UStG ( Value Added Tax Act ), but BGBl. ( Federal Law Gazette )

In some legal commentaries , for example in Palandt , this procedure is radically expanded:

Examples: DarlN (for borrowers), ZusHang (for context), NebenBest (for ancillary provision).

This abbreviation serves the special requirements of these works. The 79th edition of Palandt already has around 3400 pages in thin print and is at the limit of manageability.

Some of these abbreviations are also used outside of the comments in everyday legal practice. For example: iSd (in the sense of), hM ( prevailing opinion ), aA (different opinion).

Abbreviations in the documentation

Special encyclopedias and manuals have their own abbreviation systems in order to save space and improve the overview. It is common, such abbreviations not commonly used mostly at the end or beginning of the book using a shortcut directory to explain.

Bibliography

ISO 4 defines clear abbreviations for abbreviations in publications, for example in bibliographies . This is particularly applied and used in scientific journals .

Political parties

Most German political parties have abbreviations, although their use is not mandatory. [9] It must be explicitly stipulated in the statutes. The abbreviations are so prominent on ballot papers that an empty field is perceived as a disadvantage in the voting process. [10]

In the three-party system of the 1960s and 1970s, the three major parties each had three-letter acronyms. The younger parties Green and Die Linke use different words as short names; the latter is identical to the long name .

While the situation in Austria and Switzerland is similar to that in Germany, the parties in Denmark use a single party letter as electoral list designation , which is not always used to abbreviate the party name.

Words having the ending …erei; …isch; …ungs are abbreviated with a period (.) (thus these endings will have to be added to make the word). Example: Fischerei = Fisch.; Wendisch =Wend. The words ending in …lich are abbreviated after the “l” by a period. Example: nördlich = nrdl.

Population figures after place names, if printed in italics indicate that the census figures of 1905 were used, rather than the 1910 figures, used otherwise throughout the book.

Sources

• 1) Foltinek, Selena; McGillen, Petra. "Abbreviations in German (Abkürzungen)". Dartmouth Department of German Studies. Dartmouth College. Retrieved 2020-11-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• 2) Grenier, Elizabeth (2015-10-26). "Best German abbreviations from AA to z.Z." DW.com. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2020-11-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• 4) Henderson, Rebecca (2018-05-02). "70+ of the Most Useful German Abbreviations". FluentU German. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
• 3) Flippo, Hyde (2010-01-01). "A German-English Glossary of Popular German Abbreviations". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2020-11-30.

• Messinger, Heinz; Türck, Gisela; Willmann, Helmut (1993). Langenscheidt's compact German dictionary: German-English, English-German (in German). New York: Langenscheidt. p. 703-712. ISBN 978-1-58573-351-4. OCLC 53921097.

• Horne, J; Robinson, Robert (2013). A basic vocabulary of scientific and technological German: The Commonwealth and International Library of Science Technology Engineering and Liberal Studies. Oxford New York: Elsevier Science. pp. xxix to xxxviii. ISBN 978-1-4831-3702-5. OCLC 593138531. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)