The historical dictionary is the Deutsches Wörterbuch with a long history:

The Brothers Grimm started working on it 1838. Wilhelm died around the letter D, Jacob at the entry for "Frucht". Afterwards other Germanists started continuing that work, later Bismarck provided state funding. At the start of the 20. Century the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin took over the project with major work in Göttingen.

Then WWI, Weimar Republic, Hyperinflation, Hitler, WWII.

After the war the work was continued with Göttingen in West Germany and the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, East Germany collaborating. The final volume was published in 1961, with a sources supplement in 1971. In 2006 a project was started to update A-F to modern standards, finished in 2016.