The compound word ( (English: Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services) is an example of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is possible in many Germanic languages. According to the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records, it is the longest word published in the German language, having 79 letters.
It allegedly was a suborganization of the Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft in pre-war Vienna, Austria, a shipping company for transporting passengers and cargo on the Danube. The DDSG still exists today in the form of the now private companies DDSG-Blue Danube Schiffahrt GmbH (passenger transport) and the DDSG-Cargo GmbH. However, there is no evidence that the suborganization ever existed.
Very long compound words are used sparsely in German conversation, but somewhat more often than in English. A pre-World War I Danube steamship capitain could be addressed with Donaudampfschiffskapitän more naturally than with the somewhat contrived title Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän ("Danube steamboating association captain"). According to the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records, the longest German word in everyday usage is Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften ("legal protection insurance companies") at 39 letters. This compound word would normally be shortened to Rechtsschutzversicherungen ("legal protection insurance").
The German spelling reform of 1996 reversed the rule that compound words with triple consonants coalesce them into double consonants. The reform affects noun adjunct Schiffahrt, itself a compound of Schiff ("ship") and Fahrt ("transportation"), which is now spelled Schifffahrt (with three f's). A modern spelling would use 80 letters, Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft. But as the compound is a name, the original spelling with 79 letters is kept.
The compound word contains the uncommon plural "Elektrizitäten". Elektrizität "electricity" is normally used only in the singular.