Antiqua–Fraktur dispute - Wikipedia

Jump to content

Search

Search

Donate

Create account

Log in

Personal tools

Donate

Create account

Log in

Antiqua–Fraktur dispute

8 languages

العربية<br>Cymraeg<br>Deutsch<br>Français<br>Italiano<br>Português<br>Українська<br>中文

Edit links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Typographical dispute in Germany

The "Latin script" was typified by Antiqua.<br>The "German/Gothic script" (blackletter) was embodied by Fraktur.<br>The Antiqua–Fraktur dispute was a typographical dispute in 19th- and early 20th-century Germany.

In most European countries, blackletter typefaces like the German Fraktur were displaced by the creation of the Antiqua typefaces in the 15th and 16th centuries. However, in Germany and Austria, the two styles of printing coexisted until the first half of the 20th century.

During that time, both styles gained ideological connotations in Germany, which led to long and heated disputes on what was the "correct" typeface to use. The eventual outcome was that the Antiqua-style typefaces prevailed when the Nazi Party chose to put an end to the use of Fraktur in favor of "normal typeface" (German: Normalschrifterlaß).

Origin<br>[edit]

Two typefaces: the German text uses Fraktur; numerals and Latin and French words are written in Antiqua (1768).<br>Historically, the dispute originates in the differing use of these two typefaces in most intellectual texts. Whereas Fraktur was preferred for works written in German, for Latin texts the Antiqua-style typefaces were normally used. This extended even to English–German dictionaries; the English words would all be written in Antiqua, and the German words in Fraktur. Originally this was simply a convention.

19th century<br>[edit]

Conflict over the two typeface styles first came to a head after the occupation of Germany and dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon in 1806, which led to a period in the history of Germany in which nationalists began to attempt to define cultural values common to all Germans. There was a massive effort to canonize the German national literature—for example, the Grimm Brothers' collection of fairy tales—and to create a unified German grammar.

In the context of these debates, the two styles became increasingly polarized: Antiqua typefaces were seen as "un-German", and using them took on connotations of "shallow", "light", and "not serious". In contrast, Fraktur, with its much darker and denser script, was viewed as representing allegedly German virtues such as depth and sobriety.

During the Romantic Era, in which the Middle Ages were glorified, Fraktur additionally gained the (historically incorrect) interpretation that it represented German Gothicism. For instance, Goethe's mother advised her son to refrain from using the un-German Antiqua “for God’s sake”.

Otto von Bismarck was a keen supporter of German typefaces. He went so far as to refuse gifts of German books in Antiqua typefaces and returned them to sender with the statement Deutsche Bücher in lateinischen Buchstaben lese ich nicht! ('I don't read German books in Latin letters!').[1]

20th century<br>[edit]

The dispute between Antiqua and Fraktur continued well into the 20th century. Arguments for Fraktur were not only based on historical and cultural perceptions, but also on the claim that Fraktur was more suited for printing German and other Germanic languages, as their proponents claimed it to be more readable than Antiqua for this purpose.

A 1910 publication by Adolf Reinecke, Die deutsche Buchstabenschrift, claims the following advantages for using Fraktur as the German script:

German script is a real reading script: it is more readable, i.e. the word images are clearer, than Latin script.[2]

German script is more compact in printing, which is an advantage for fast recognition of word images while reading.

German script is more suitable for expressing German language, as it is more adapted to the characteristics of the German language than the Latin script.

German script does not cause nearsightedness and is healthier for the eyes than Latin script.[3]

German script is still prone to development; Latin script is set in stone.

German script can be read and understood all over the world, where it is actually often used as ornamental script.

German script makes it easier for foreigners to understand the German language.[4]

Latin script will gradually lose its position as international script through the progress of the Anglo-Saxon world (here the author states that "Anglo-Saxons in the UK, the United States and Australia are still 'Germanic' enough to annihilate the Latin-scriptler's dream of a Latin 'world-script'").[5]

The use of Latin script for German language will promote its infestation with foreign words.

German script does not impede at all the proliferation of German language and German culture in other countries.

On 4 May 1911, a peak in the dispute was reached during a vote in the Reichstag. The Verein für Altschrift...