Dictionary of German Viticultural Language

The Mainz Academy project "Wörterbuch der deutschen Winzersprache” (WDW) (Dictionary of German Viticultural Language) is a European specialist dictionary covering the older terminology of viticulture and wine culture across all German‑speaking (and formerly German‑speaking) wine‑growing regions of Western, Central, South‑Eastern and Eastern Europe. In addition to the orally transmitted, predominantly dialect‑shaped viticultural vocabulary, the dictionary focuses on cultural techniques that pre‑date the mechanisation of winemaking which accelerated after 1960.

The study area includes every wine‑growing region in Germany (Ahr, Baden, Franconia, Hessian Bergstraße, Middle Rhine, Moselle, Nahe, Palatinate, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Saale‑Unstrut, Saxony, Württemberg) as well as numerous German-speaking enclaves in Europe. Geographically it stretches from Luxembourg in the west to the Caucasus in the east, and from the Saale and Unstrut and Saxony in the north down to South Tyrol in the south. Linguistic data have been collected from over twenty countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia‑Herzegovina, Germany, France, Georgia, Italy, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Moldova, Austria, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Serbia‑Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, Ukraine and Hungary.

The material basis for the WDW was created in the early 1980s using a direct method involving standardised questionnaire surveys with interviews recorded on tape. The irreplaceable language sources in the study area, many of which were collected for the last time, especially from the German language enclaves, represent a primary historical source for numerous disciplines. Initiated by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kleiber and led by Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Haubrichs, the Mainz Academy project pursues a lexicographic presentation of the specialised viticultural language. Lexical‑semantic, dialect‑geographic and technical aspects are foregrounded; a complete phonetic documentation is not intended. The entire, partly historicised viticultural vocabulary is divided into the following thematic fields: vine, its parts and varieties; vineyard; vineyard work; grape harvest; pressing and must preparation; winemaking and wine; wine consumption and viticultural customs.