English-German/German-English Dictionary I. [antikvár]

Preface This book was planned in 1930 as a revised edition of the Dictionary of the English and Germán Language by William James, published by Bernhard Tauchnitz A.G. It was being worked on these lines up to 1932, when its production was held up through a change of ownership in the Tauchnitz firm. In 1934 it was taken up afresh in order to undergo a totál revision. In the course of the following years, it has become an entirely new and independent work, fundamentally differing from James in prin-oiples of conception, method, and execution, and having no longer any-thing in common with it. Under the contract and out of consideration for the wide publicity which James's dictionary has enjoyed, esp. abroad, the originál name has been retained in the title. The object of this book is to present, in the whole diversity of its social and individual structure, the vocabulary and usage oi modern and present-day English, i. e. of the XIX. and XX. centuries,therebyincluding standard speech (as basis), the conversational language of the educated classes, col-loquial speech, slang, the poetica! language, and dialect. The language of the United States of America, which has constantly and largely influenced English slang, has been taken into account as far as possible. I ha ve deliberately refrained from dealing fully with the vocabulary of the earlier centuries and from giving detailed etymological data for the several catchwords in order to provide space for the living language of to-day and to set forth the manifold difficulties attending its use, as well as to give information, if need be, about the facts underlying the words. Etymólogy has been duly considered where it is of eminently practical use, cp. p. XIIIf. and p. XVI. The omissions produced by the restriction of the vocabulary are of relatively small importance, since the bulk of the words of the earlier centuries ha ve been carried forward into the modern period. They become insignificant indeed, if one takes into account the unique influence tradition has and always has had in England. Thus quite a number of the older words linger on in the present time as archaic forms, which are all included in this book. A still greater number including many Shakespearian words survives in the tradition-bound poeticái language of today, which has been largely presented here. The emphasis then lies here on modern and present-day English which has been treated on strictly scientific principles. This is one characteristic feature of this ^dictionary. The other is this: The book represents the first systematic attempt to bring syntax and style, which have hitherto always suffered neglect, within the framework of the word-material. The articles have, therefore, often been arranged purely from the standpoint of syntax or idiom, in order to throw into relief the characteristic peculiarities—syn-tactic as well as idiomatic—of the word in question and to enable the reader at once to recognize such difficulties as may arise in its use, and to apply the word correctly; I would only refer, by way of example, to the articles odvice, company, give, oat, of, one, paper, pay, people, politics, remove, renounce, sloio, sorry, strong, take, thing, to. The carrying out of this prin-