Versuche der Sprachreinigung im Deutschen Reich: „Der Allgemeine Deutsche Sprachverein“

In 1871, after the defeat of France in front of Germany in the Prussian War, Hermann Regel led a campaign against the use of Foreign words in German and called for refining the German dictionary from words that came from other languages, particularly French and English. Then, in 1885, with the help of some academicians and politicians, he founded a German-speaking association which objectives were set as follows: 1. To purify the German language of unnecessary foreign words 2. To maintain and renew the unique and true spirit of the German language, 3. To enhance public awareness of all Germans, not only in terms of language, but also with regard to being Germans in general. This paper focuses on what the German General Assembly achieved from 1885 until the beginning of World War I in 1914, in terms of success and failure, in particular the inclusion of foreign words through translation, the inevitability of the enormous problems in the transfer of general language principles to the language actually used outside Academic circles.