1. Capitals and lower-case.—All German substantives are written with capital initial letters; and capital letters are also used for adjectives in geographical designations, e.g. 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔎𝔞ſ𝔭𝔦ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔢 𝔐𝔢𝔢𝔯 (the Caspian Sea), or in adjectives derived from proper names, e.g. 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔊𝔯𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔰[𝔠𝔥]𝔢𝔫 𝔐𝔞̈𝔯[𝔠𝔥]𝔢𝔫 (Grimm’s Fairy Tales); but as a rule adjectives, even when relating to nationality, have lower-case initials, not excepting titles of books, &c., thus: 𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔡𝔢𝔲𝔱ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔢 𝔙𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡, 𝔡𝔦𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔷𝔬̈ſ𝔦ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔢 ℜ𝔢𝔳𝔬𝔩𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 (the German Fatherland, the French Revolution).
The 𝔳𝔬𝔫 in German names of persons begins with a small letter (unless of course when it commences a sentence), e.g. ℌ𝔢𝔯𝔯 𝔳𝔬𝔫 𝔅𝔲̈𝔩𝔬𝔴.
The 𝔳𝔬𝔫 in such cases requires only a thin space after it: 𝔊𝔢ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔟𝔢𝔫 𝔳𝔬𝔫 𝔳𝔬𝔫 ℜ𝔦[𝔠𝔥]𝔱𝔢𝔯 (written by von Richter).
2. The Reformed German Spelling of 1902.—All words of German origin ending in 𝔱𝔥, as 𝔐𝔲𝔱𝔥, ℜ𝔞𝔱𝔥, now drop the 𝔥 and become 𝔐𝔲𝔱, ℜ𝔞𝔱, &c. 𝔗𝔥𝔞𝔱 has become 𝔗𝔞𝔱, 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔯 is now 𝔗𝔬𝔯. 𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔨𝔲̈𝔥𝔯 has become 𝔚𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔨𝔲̈𝔯. 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔢 is now spelt 𝔗𝔢𝔢. But 𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔫, 𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯, &c., being derived from Greek, keep 𝔱𝔥. Also 𝔭𝔥 in words of German origin is now supplemented by 𝔣, thus 𝔈𝔣𝔢𝔲 (for 𝔈𝔭𝔥𝔢𝔲); 𝔄𝔡𝔬𝔩𝔣, ℜ𝔲𝔡𝔬𝔩𝔣, 𝔚𝔢ſ𝔱𝔣𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔫 (for 𝔄𝔡𝔬𝔩𝔭𝔥, ℜ𝔲𝔡𝔬𝔩𝔭𝔥, 𝔚𝔢ſ𝔱𝔭𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔫). Likewise 𝔈𝔩𝔢𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔱, 𝔉𝔞ſ𝔞𝔫, 𝔖𝔬𝔣𝔞. But 𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔤𝔯𝔞𝔭𝔥, 𝔓𝔥𝔦𝔩𝔬ſ𝔬𝔭𝔥, 𝔖𝔶𝔪𝔭𝔥𝔬𝔫𝔦𝔢, being learned words of Greek origin. ℨ is more and more used for ℭ, thus: ℨ𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔪 for ℭ𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔪; ℨ𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔫𝔢𝔯, ℨ𝔦𝔯𝔨𝔲𝔰. 𝔄𝔢, 𝔒𝔢, 𝔘𝔢, are always rendered 𝔄̈, 𝔒̈, 𝔘̈.
Three identical letters should not come together before a vowel. Consequently print 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔣𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯𝔱, not 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔦[𝔣𝔣]𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯𝔱 (but in dividing print 𝔖𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔣𝔣=𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯𝔱). 𝔐𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔞𝔤, 𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔫𝔬[𝔠𝔥] (from 𝔐𝔦𝔱𝔱=𝔱𝔞𝔤, 𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔫=𝔫𝔬[𝔠𝔥]), are invariable. The plural of 𝔖𝔢𝔢 is no longer 𝔖𝔢𝔢𝔢𝔫, but 𝔖𝔢𝔢𝔫; in narrow measure divide 𝔖𝔢𝔢=𝔢𝔫.
The suffix =𝔫𝔦[ſ𝔷] is now =𝔫𝔦𝔰: ℌ𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔰.
The verbal suffix =𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔫 is now uniformly written =𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫, thus: 𝔞𝔡𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔰𝔲𝔟𝔱𝔯𝔞𝔥𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔪𝔲𝔩𝔱𝔦𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔷𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔡𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔪𝔞𝔯ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔦𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔫.
A detailed list of the new German, Austrian, and Swiss orthographies[87] may be obtained through any bookseller. A few German writers still object to the modern spelling; in such cases, of course, copy should be followed.
3. Hyphens in German.—If two or more words follow one another, relating to a common part of speech with which they form a compound, all except the last take a hyphen, thus: ℌ𝔲𝔱- 𝔲𝔫𝔡 𝔎𝔯𝔞𝔴𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔣𝔞𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔨𝔞𝔫𝔱 (hat and tie manufacturer). Compound words in German are now printed as one word.
4. Division of words in German.—Prefixes should of course remain intact, such as 𝔞𝔫, 𝔞𝔲𝔣, 𝔢𝔫𝔱, 𝔢𝔪𝔭, 𝔢𝔯, 𝔳𝔢𝔯, 𝔳𝔬𝔯, 𝔲̈𝔟𝔢𝔯, 𝔷𝔢𝔯. Thus: 𝔞𝔫=𝔣𝔞𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔫, 𝔞𝔲𝔣=𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔢𝔫𝔱=𝔷𝔴𝔢𝔦𝔢𝔫, 𝔢𝔪𝔭=𝔣𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔫, 𝔢𝔯=𝔣𝔞𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔫, 𝔳𝔢𝔯=𝔞̈𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔯𝔫, 𝔳𝔬𝔯=𝔯𝔲̈[𝔠𝔨]𝔢𝔫, 𝔲̈𝔟𝔢𝔯=𝔯𝔢𝔡𝔢𝔫, 𝔷𝔢𝔯=ſ𝔱𝔬[ſ𝔷]𝔢𝔫. In narrow measure divide 𝔤𝔢=𝔟𝔢𝔫, 𝔱𝔯𝔞=𝔤𝔢𝔫, 𝔥𝔢=𝔟𝔲𝔫𝔤, 𝔩𝔢=𝔟𝔢𝔫𝔡, 𝔪𝔞̈=𝔥𝔢𝔫, ſ𝔞=𝔤𝔢𝔫, 𝔗𝔲̈=[𝔠𝔥]𝔢𝔯, 𝔩𝔬̈=ſ[𝔠𝔥]𝔢𝔫. (See under [paragraph 2] of this Appendix, ‘Reformed Spelling’, for three identical letters coming together. See also under 7, 11, 14.)