Una cala en las olas germanizadoras de la historia de la lengua alemana

Abstract

This paper gives a historical overview of the purist movement in the German language, the so-called Sprachreinigung, which sought to eliminate foreign words and replace them with German words, or Verdeutschungen. This movement began in the seventeenth century baroque era with the German Language Societies and continued with varying degrees of influence until the end of the Second World War. Special attention is given to the German Language Society, founded in 1886, which succeeded in introducing numerous germanizations in the late ninetheenth and early twentieth centuries. Finally, the criteria and methods used to coin the ‘germanisations’ are analysed, along with crucial questions regarding the importance of this ‘germanising’ work, the reasons for the survival or disappearance of specific ‘germanisations’, and repercussions in the modern German language.