Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
Encyclopedia
The compound word
The compound word ( (Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services) is an example of the virtually unlimited compounding
of noun
s that is possible in many Germanic languages
. According to the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word published in the German language
, having 79 letters.
It allegedly was a suborganization of the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft
in pre-war Vienna
, Austria
, a shipping
company for transporting passengers and cargo
on the Danube
. The DDSG still exists today in the form of the now private companies DDSG-Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (passenger transport) and the DDSG-Cargo GmbH. However, there is no evidence that the suborganization ever existed.
Very long compound words are used sparsely in German conversation, but somewhat more often than in English
. A pre-World War I
Danube steamship capitain could be addressed with Donaudampfschiffskapitän more naturally than with the somewhat contrived title Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän ("Danube steamboating association captain"). According to the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records, the longest German word in everyday usage is Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften ("legal protection insurance companies") at 39 letters. This compound word would normally be shortened to Rechtsschutzversicherungen ("legal protection insurance").
The German spelling reform of 1996
reversed the rule that compound words with triple consonants coalesce them into double consonants. The reform affects noun adjunct
Schiffahrt, itself a compound of Schiff ("ship") and Fahrt ("transportation"), which is now spelled Schifffahrt (with three f' s). A modern spelling would use 80 letters, Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft. But as the compound is a name, the original spelling with 79 letters is kept.
The compound word contains the uncommon plural "Elektrizitäten". Elektrizität "electricity" is normally used only in the singular.
The compound word ( (Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services) is an example of the virtually unlimited compounding
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
of noun
Noun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s that is possible in many Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
. According to the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word published in the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, having 79 letters.
It allegedly was a suborganization of the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft
The Erste Donau-Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft, or Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft was a shipping company founded in 1829 by the Austrian government for transporting passengers and cargo on the Danube.In 1880, the DDSG was the world's largest river shipping company with more than 200 steamboat...
in pre-war Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, a shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
company for transporting passengers and cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
. The DDSG still exists today in the form of the now private companies DDSG-Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (passenger transport) and the DDSG-Cargo GmbH. However, there is no evidence that the suborganization ever existed.
Very long compound words are used sparsely in German conversation, but somewhat more often than in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. A pre-World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Danube steamship capitain could be addressed with Donaudampfschiffskapitän more naturally than with the somewhat contrived title Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän ("Danube steamboating association captain"). According to the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records, the longest German word in everyday usage is Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften ("legal protection insurance companies") at 39 letters. This compound word would normally be shortened to Rechtsschutzversicherungen ("legal protection insurance").
The German spelling reform of 1996
German spelling reform of 1996
The German orthography reform of 1996 was an attempt to simplify the spelling of the German language and thus to make it easier to learn, without substantially changing the rules familiar to all living users of the language....
reversed the rule that compound words with triple consonants coalesce them into double consonants. The reform affects noun adjunct
Noun adjunct
In grammar, a noun adjunct or attributive noun or noun premodifier is a noun that modifies another noun and is optional — meaning that it can be removed without changing the grammar of the sentence; it is a noun functioning as an adjective. For example, in the phrase "chicken soup" the noun adjunct...
Schiffahrt, itself a compound of Schiff ("ship") and Fahrt ("transportation"), which is now spelled Schifffahrt (with three f
The compound word contains the uncommon plural "Elektrizitäten". Elektrizität "electricity" is normally used only in the singular.
See also
- Rinderkennzeichnungs- und RindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzRinderkennzeichnungs- und RindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzRinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz is a law of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of 2000, dealing with the supervision of the labeling of beef.The name is an example of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is...
- Longest word in EnglishLongest word in EnglishThe identity of the longest word in English depends upon the definition of what constitutes a word in the English language, as well as how length should be compared...
- Noun adjunctNoun adjunctIn grammar, a noun adjunct or attributive noun or noun premodifier is a noun that modifies another noun and is optional — meaning that it can be removed without changing the grammar of the sentence; it is a noun functioning as an adjective. For example, in the phrase "chicken soup" the noun adjunct...