In 1838, the Brothers Grimm began work on the Deutsches Wörterbuch in Göttingen and Berlin, the most extensive historical dictionary of the German language. The first volumes were published in 1854, but the work was so vast that the brothers completed only four volumes before their deaths; the final volume was not published until 1961. This monumental project traced the history of German words and established a new standard for historical lexicography.

The Deutsches Wörterbuch provided German poets with an unparalleled historical resource, documenting the evolution of their language from its earliest sources. Its influence can be seen in the works of poets like Heinrich Heine and Rainer Maria Rilke, who drew on the rich lexical heritage of German. The dictionary also inspired similar historical projects in other countries, including the Oxford English Dictionary.