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Today people often require transcription and translation of old German scripts. Here is a brief description of the common old German scripts. |
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FrakturFrom roughly 1150 to 1500 Western European writing used a script called black letter, also known as Gothic script or Gothic minuscule. Starting in the 16th century, black letter was printed and written differently in German than in most other European languages. This German variety of black letter was called Fraktur, from a Latin word meaning fracture, because its ornamental curlicues break the continuous line of a word. Although the German language refers to Fraktur as deutsche Schrift (German script), Fraktur was also used for a number of other European languages.
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KurrentFraktur's cursive counterpart, in which the letters were connected, was called Kurrent (running). Originally evolved from the Gothic cursive handwriting of the 16th century, Kurrent came into widespread use as everyday handwriting throughout Germany into the first part of the 20th century. While Fraktur remained largely unchanged over the centuries, several different styles of Kurrent were developed, with numerous idiosyncrasies among each writer’s manner of forming particular letters. Kurrent is known in full as Kurrentschrift or as alte deutsche Schrift (old German script).
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SütterlinSütterlinschrift (Sütterlin script), or Sütterlin for short, is the last widely used form of old German black-letter handwriting. The classic Kurrent script, with its many sharp angles, straight lines, and abrupt changes in direction, was hard to write. In 1911, to give schoolchildren an easier start in the art of handwriting, the Prussian Ministry of Culture commissioned Ludwig Sütterlin, a graphic designer and teacher, to devise a new form of Kurrent. Sütterlin's new and beautiful Kurrent style, with wide curves and very few sharp angles, was soon accepted as the standard script by nearly all German schools.
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Although, like all Fraktur and Kurrent scripts, Sütterlin Kurrent mostly disappeared after 1941 and was replaced by modern Latin script, Sütterlin remains the handwriting remembered by the older German generation. The word "Sütterlin" is nowadays often used, inaccurately, to refer to all varieties of old German handwriting. Few people today can read the old German writing and thus need professional transcription and translation of these old scripts.
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