German orthography
Compound words, including nouns, are written together, e.g. "Haustür" (Haus+Tür; house door), "Tischlampe" (Tisch+Lampe; table lamp), "Kaltwasserhahn" (Kalt+Wasser+Hahn; cold water tap/faucet). This can lead to long words: the longest word in regular use, "Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften" ("legal protection insurance companies"), consists of 39 letters; while the longest German word ever published ("Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft", "Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services") has 79 letters.
List of German dictionaries
This list includes notable historic, standardized and common use dictionaries of the German language. The beginnings of German dictionaries date back to a series of glossaries from the 8th century CE. The first comprehensive German dictionary, the "Deutsches Wörterbuch" (DWB), was begun by the Brothers Grimm in 1838. The "Duden" dictionary, begun in 1880 and now in its 25th edition, is currently the prescriptive source for the spelling of German. The official dictionary for Austrian German, the "Österreichisches Wörterbuch" (ÖWB), is published by the Austrian Federal Government and is now in its 41st edition.