The Deutsches Wörterbuch (; "The German Dictionary"), abbreviated DWB, is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence. Encompassing modern High German vocabulary in use since 1450, it also includes loanwords adopted from other languages into German. Entries cover the etymology, meanings, attested forms, synonyms, usage peculiarities, and regional differences of words found throughout the German speaking world. The dictionary's historical linguistics approach, illuminated by examples from primary source documents, makes it to German what the Oxford English Dictionary is to English. The first completed DWB lists over 330,000 headwords in 67,000 print columns spanning 32 volumes. The Deutsches Wörterbuch was begun by the Brothers Grimm in 1838 and the initial volumes were published in 1854. Unfinished at the time of their deaths, the dictionary was finally completed by a succession of later scholars and institutions in 1961. In 1971, a 33rd supplement volume was published containing 25,000 additional entries. New research projects began in 2004 to expand and update the oldest parts of the dictionary to modern academic standards. Volumes A–F were planned for completion in 2012 by the Language Research Centre at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the University of Göttingen. History Beginnings Beginning in 1830, Weidmann's Publishing House in Leipzig repeatedly approached Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm with a proposal for a large new dictionary, spanning German vocabulary from Martin Luther to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As busy professors at Göttingen University, the Brothers Grimm rejected such a complex undertaking. A political scandal then dramatically changed matters. In 1837, the new King of Hanover, Ernst August, dissolved parliament and demanded oaths of allegiance from all civil servants. The brothers and five other professors refused and this so-called "Göttingen Seven" were removed from their positions by royal order. The brothers then became political refugees in their former home in Kassel. The Grimms (1838–1863) By October 1838, the Brothers had a contract with Weidmann's and the prestigious Leipzig journal Allgemeine Zeitung published an announcement of the start of work on the DWB. The brothers initially expected the project to take ten years and produce 6–7 volumes. Circumstances seemed favorable because they were provided with staff and spacious apartments in Berlin at the invitation of the Prussian Minister in 1841. However, difficulties soon began. Not only did the acquisition of source excerpts take much longer than expected, but illness and the Revolution of 1848