Encyclopedias and dictionaries excelled in assisting the legal community in the interpretation of laws. Analytical works of this sort therefore provided a more universal approach to different areas of law. The Deutsches Wörterbuch was a magnum opus to which a group of experts devoted their efforts for over a century. The Brothers Grimm began the project of drafting this dictionary of the German language in the 1830s. They aimed to produce a comprehensive text that settled the semantics and etymology of every word! The monumental dictionary was not finished until 1961, by which time it had evolved into a partnership project between the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the University of Göttingen.