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German word of the day: Die Buchmesse

Nele Schröder
Nele Schröder - [email protected]
German word of the day: Die Buchmesse
Photo: Depositphotos

With the world-renowned Leipzig Book Fair starting Thursday, let’s have a look at the German word for book fair: Buchmesse.

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Buchmesse is a combination of the words Buch, which means book and Messe, which means fair. Messe is a word that has different meaning in German, according to its context.

SEE ALSO: Weekend Wanderlust: A love letter to the eastern German city of Leipzig

When you use Messe in a church context, it means to hold a service. However, when you use it in an economical context, it simply means 'an event, where companies show and sell their goods'.

The Leipzig Book Fair --  Leipziger Buchmesse -- is such an event. The book fair in the Saxon city has taken place every year since the 17th century and is currently the second biggest book fair in Germany, following the Frankfurt Book Fair.

For four days each year, some 197, 000 international visitors come to the exhibition grounds, a few miles from the city centre of Leipzig. Around 2,600 exhibitors present their goods, varying from books to comics to film merchandise.

The focus of the fair is the contact between readers and authors, and there is a different partner country every year. This year, this partner country is the Czech Republic.

Examples:

Gehst du dieses Jahr auch zur Buchmesse?

Will you visit the book fair this year?

Ich besuche die Leipziger Buchmesse seit zehn Jahren.

I have been visiting the Leipzig Book Fair for 10 years.

 

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