About the Author

Matthias Heine

Matthias Heine, born in Kassel in 1961, studied history, literary studies, and linguistics in Braunschweig and contributed to the revised edition of Hermann Paul's foundational "Deutsches Wörterbuch" under the direction of Helmut Henne. Today, he works as a journalist in Berlin. He is the culture editor for "Die Welt," where he wrote the column "Ein Mann, ein Wort" for many years. To date, Heine has published eleven books on the history of words, language, and script, most recently "Krass. 500 Jahre deutsche Jugendsprache," "Kaputte Wörter," and "Kluge Wörter." His book "Verbrannte Wörter" on the vocabulary of National Socialism is considered a standard work. His latest title, "Der große Sprachumbau," was published in 2024 by Langen Müller.