Periodic musings, Geistesblitze, pictures, illustrations an such like. by a “resident alien”, having landed on American soil from a far-away globe called “Germany”.
Word of the period: Liebeskummer
A combination of Liebe (appreciation) and Kummer (grief, sadness) that refers to the frame of mind men and women whose romantic life is not going well, especially the sorrow experienced by jilted devotee.
10 statements:
Hey Ulrich, I think it is a delightful word, and I are unable to imagine an equivalent in English. although in the past or another, all, or at least the majority of, folks need must utilize it. What is the book when it comes to? I favor the title.
The succinct subject from the publication, Moselfahrt aus Liebeskummer, is tough to convert gracefully–the literal definition are “Moselle lake Excursion as a result of Liebeskummer”. It’s a novella, printed in the 30s, explaining a-trip along and on the Mosel (Moselle) lake where the narrator tries to overcome their Liebeskummer. It has enjoying summaries associated with the lake, the towns that range they, and also the individuals who grow drink there–I stayed in these types of villages while I decided to go to primary class.
Upon rereading passages of it, however, i have to admit that concept is probably the good thing of this book!
“The Germans need to have a phrase for this. Doppelgedanken, probably: the impression, when checking out, that your particular own mind is giving birth towards the words because they show up on the page. These will be the pride that on these uncommon circumstances your question, a€?exactly how could mcdougal need recognized the things I had been considering?a€?
I do believe the estimate shows that the customer shares exacltly what the blog site keeps over repeatedly revealed, that Germans become experts at picking out terms that properly diagnose claims of notice. Liebeskummer try yet another sample.
: Thx for directed this overview aside. We retrieved the evaluation from your stack of papers getting reused (I experienced misied it a week ago).
The price, generated much more powerful b/c simple fact is that opening paragraph in the evaluation, confirms, because say, it is simple to coin newer terminology on the spot in German by hitching with each other two separate statement (typically nouns, although not necessarily therefore). Doppelgedanke try an example–I’ve not witnessed it in German, but Germans would understand it inside context for which it’s granted, supplied they obtain the allusion into well-established DoppelgA¤nger.
I am in addition, obviously, a whole lot taken by ‘official’ acknowledgment of the capacity for German into the part and surprised that customer believes by doing this, that she locates it–apparently–convenient, sometimes, to ‘think in German’.
It surely inspires us to continue with my word-of-the-month posts. But I additionally wish point out that English offers coinages with no similar in German, and that I may build a thread quickly coping with this subservient topic.
That’s an appealing subject, the English coinages that have no real counterpart in German. We ask yourself for a moment see in English–and perchance you will–the sorts of phrase I’ve found very wonderful in German, those substances highlighting, very correctly, a certain mind-set. Not every one of your own German examples have done that but a number of have and that I like all of them a lot better than their unique English alternatives, if you don’t equivalents, as an instance, Fraidy cat versus Angsthase. I really do wish you certainly will carry on together with your keywords for the month. I absolutely take pleasure in all of them.
The conventional samples of English phrases w/o real counterpart in German are “fair play” and “typical sense”–they were used such as that in German long before the present tsunami of English keywords started to strike German, which includes words which is why there is no need anyway, like “game”, whoever connotations have absolutely no way unlike compared to German Spiel. In adolescent speak, online, marketing and advertising etc German presents itself today as an assortment of German and English. I’m, indeed, interested in watching exactly how this will pan in the end–i.e. when this will strike more than as a fad or have a lasting effect on German, e.g. notably boost its vocabulary. My guess was your second will happen.
The upshot is that if I want to starting a bond on English words with no real cognates in German, the situation is manufactured more complex from this state of affairs. Whatever the case, I’m beginning a webpage in which I collect candidate phrases–I wanted certainly 
a lot more than “reasonable enjoy” and “common sense”.
Breathtaking term, Liebeskummer, and there is a Dutch equivalent, liefdesverdriet. It is really amazing there is no English phrase because of it. It happens sometimes that I’m wanting to change an English term into Dutch, and there only is not any right word. I’ll take time to inform you, Ulrich.