Typografie: German-English Vocabulary
Fraktur and Typeface Vocabulary

Fraktur and Typographic Vocabulary: German-English

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The following German-English glossary is related to the article German Typefaces: The Battle Between Antiqua and Fraktur. This annotated glossary includes terms related to typography, typesetting, type styles, and the history of printing. The sample letters on the left are in the Fraktur style.

NOUN GENDER is indicated by r (der), e (die), s (das).

e Akzidenz (-en) printed material that is not a book or a periodical (brochures, forms, fliers, etc.); job work (printing)

s Alphabet alphabet

e Antiqua (e Altschrift) Roman or Latin type (as opposed to blackletter/Gothic), literally "old type"

r Bleisatz hot-metal (lead) typesetting (67% Blei, 28% Antimon, 5% Zinn)

e Breitkopf-Fraktur See "Varieties of Fraktur" below

r Cicero measure of type size; pica (12-point type); named for the printer Ulrich Hans Cicero

deutsche Schrift another name for Fraktur or Gothic type; probably of northern-Italian origin (lettera tedesca) in the late 15th century

e Drucktype printing type/typeface; a single letter of metal type
  e Schrifttype type, typeface

e Fraktur Fraktur = a "broken" or "Gothic" typeface (eine gebrochene Schrift)
e Frakturschrift Fraktur type
  Die erste Anwendung als Drucktype fand die Fraktur 1514 bei dem für Maximilian I. von Hans Schönsperger in Augsburg gedruckten und (unter anderen) von Albrecht Dürer illustrierten Gebetbuch. - The first use of Fraktur as a printed typeface was in 1514 for the Gebetbuch (prayer book) printed for Maximilian I by Hans Schönsperger in Augsburg and illustrated (among others) by Albrecht Dürer.

VARIETIES OF FRAKTUR
Breitkopf-Fraktur a less ornate Fraktur named for the typographer Johannes Gottlieb Breitkopf (1719-1794)
Koch-Fraktur a group of modern Fraktur styles created from 1910 to 1930 by Rudolf Koch (1876-1934)
Theuerdank-Fraktur a Fraktur named for the title of a book published in Nürnberg in 1517 by the Schönsperger printing firm
Unger-Fraktur a simpler Fraktur named for Johann Friedrich Unger (1750-1804)
Walbaum-Fraktur a modern Fraktur named for Justus Erich Walbaum (1768-1839)

r Fraktur-Streit the "Fraktur debate," the battle in Germany (1800-1941) between supporters of Antiqua (Roman) and those who favored Fraktur

gotische Schrift blackletter, Gothic type (Fraktur)

e Grotesk/Groteskschrift grotesque, a sans-serif class of of typeface first designed by Tschichold in 1928

Gutenberg, Johannes Gensfleisch the German inventor of modern printing with metal type, born in Mainz; some claim his real name is Henne Gensfleisch zur Laden (1397-1468)

e Inkunabelzeit the "Incunabula" period (1450-1500), the era of early book printing and typeface development in Europe

kursiv italic (adj.)
e Kursive/Kursivschrift italics

e Letter (-n) character, letter (type)

e Ligatur (-en) ligature (linked letters set as a single piece of type)
  These ligatures are found in Fraktur: ch, ck, ff, fi, fl, ft, ll, sch, si, sl, ss, st, sz, tt, and tz.

e Punze (-n) burin (the hollowed-out interior space between the raised metal on letters of type)

e Schwabacher Schrift Schwabacher typeface
  A blackletter typestyle developed in Nürnberg; the term may relate to the nearby town of Schwabach or a typesetter from that place.

e Schrift script (handwriting); type (printing); text; alphabet
  e Druckschrift print type
  e Handschrift handwriting (script)

e Schriftart font, typestyle (i.e., Times New Roman, Fette Fraktur, Bodoni, Helvetica, etc.)
s Schriftgrad point size (measured in Punkt)
e Schriftkegel the height of a single letter of metal type

e Type type, typeface, letter (printing)

e Typografie typography

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