11 Jan 2016
Who else is watching Deutschland 83 at the moment? It’s Channel 4’s German language TV series about the Cold War. Set in 1983 (obvs) it has a great soundtrack that includes New Order’s Blue Monday, Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics and Modern Love by David Bowle (RIP).
So far, I’ve learnt about four words of German. But it got me wondering how many German or German origin words we use in everyday English.
Here are a few.
Abseil: descend by rope
Angst: fear, depression, anger
Delicatessen: speciality food retailer (German spelling Delikatessen)
Doppelgänger: someone’s double
Fest: a feast, celebration, a party
Foosball: table football
Gestalt: overall shape, pattern, appearance of something
Hinterland: backwoods, back of beyond, remote from urban areas
Kaput: not working, broken, useless, out of order
Kitsch: fake art, inauthentic, tacky, cheap
Leitmotif: a theme, constantly recurring melody
Prattle: chatter, babble, gabble
Rucksack: backpack
Schadenfreude: getting pleasure from another’s misfortune
Schmaltz: sickly sentimentality
Spiel: well rehearses patter
Spritz: squirt or spray liquid
Stollen: a sweet, yeast bread
Uber: better, superior, above, the best, saviour of a Saturday night
Verboten: forbidden, prohibited
Vorsprung durch Technik: advancement through technology
Wanderlust: desire to travel, to wander
Wunderkind: a child prodigy
Zeitgeist: the defining spirit or mood of a period in history, as demonstrated by ideas and beliefs
Check out these posts on Indian words, French words and Latin words.
SophieKBuchanan
Posted at 19:29h, 11 JanuaryKaput, Kitsch and Wanderlust: German Words in English – https://t.co/H6tQ3A59Ea via @turnerink https://t.co/vnJMvqPJ7G
Christian
Posted at 11:28h, 23 FebruaryGood list! Add Kindergarten?
Sometimes, meaning and/or spelling in German is different:
Foosball – German Fußball is simply football. Table football is Tischfußball/Tippkick (players moved with fingers) or Kickern/Krökeln (pitch in crate with players on rods)
Kaput, Schmaltz, Uber – in German: kaputt, Schmalz, Über…
Prattle – not a standard German word
Spiel – in German both rehearsed and free play
Tobias Pettigrew
Posted at 17:37h, 18 MarchLanguage is fascinating.
English is such a compound of so many different languages. French. German. Dutch. Latin. Old Norse. Gallic. Probably more!
I think – somehow – that’s what makes it such a successful, global language. It evolved through adaptation. Just like the Roman Empire thrived by ‘borrowing’ ideas from other cultures, the English language has evolved by ‘borrowing’ words from other languages. It’s what makes it so flexible and adaptable.
Thanks for the interesting post, Sarah 🙂 I’ll need to check out Deutschland. Have you seen The Lives of Others? A fantastic film set in Germany around the same period. Check it out.
– Tobie.
Sarah Turner
Posted at 08:48h, 21 MarchThanks Tobie. I highly recommend Deutschland 83. Forgot how much everybody smoked in the 80s! Will check out The Lives of Others.