Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Population
(7,643 words)

1. Discussion and practices

1.1. Terminology

Until the late 18th century, the German term Bevölkerung (population) was used in the sense of “populating,” increasing the population. Krünitz’s Oeconomische Encyclopädie (1788) still used it as the opposite of Entvölkerung (depopulation)[1]. The term did not take on its modern meaning until the dawn of the 19th century. In the first volume of the Grimms’ Deutsches Wörterbuch (1854), the verb bevö…

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Ehmer, Josef, “Population”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 07 June 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_017554>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20210107



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