Westphalian Dictionary (WWB)

The Westphalian Dictionary (WWB) is a large-scale dialect dictionary that documents the Low German vocabulary of Westphalia in detail. The five-volume dictionary was completed in 2021, is now being retro-digitized in Nanjing (PR China) and will be integrated into the Trier dictionary network later this year.

Processing area

As of volume 2, the processing area of the Westphalian dictionary includes the area of Westphalia without the Siegerland region, which belongs to the Middle German dialect area, but with the Low German-speaking area of the Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg. It thus extends in the south to the “Lautverschiebunggrenze”, in the east and north to the Lower Saxony state border, in the northwest to the state border with the Netherlands and finally in the west to the Rhineland. The WWB is thus a dictionary of Low German dialects in Westphalia-Lippe and Hesse.

Structure

The Westphalian dictionary is based on a historical keyword approach, i.e. the keyword (lemma) is the form to which all dialectal documents can be traced back. These abstract lemmas are arranged nestalphabetically within the dictionary, i.e. (particle) composites and derivations are found under the corresponding main keyword (e.g.: af-hauen under hauen). Within the article the indication of the grammatical category and the distribution is followed by the meaning part, in which sentence examples as well as idioms and proverbs can be found under the respective meaning. This is followed by the phonetic part and etymological information as well as references to other dictionaries.

Text and image reference: https://www.mundart-kommission.lwl.org/de/forschung/westfaelisches-woer…