Mastodawn

Dentist? Zahnarzt, "tooth doctor".
Dermatologist? Hautarzt, "skin doctor".
Otorhinolaryngologist? Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Arzt, "throat nose ear doctor".
Veterinary? Tierarzt, "animal doctor".
Unicorn? Einhorn, "one horn".
Canine unit? Hundestaffel, "dog group / unit".
Mutton? Schaffleisch, "sheep meat".
Pork? Schweinefleisch, "pig meat".
Refrigerator? Kühlschrank, "cooling cabinet".
Automobile? Fahrzeug, "driving gear".
Aeroplane? Flugzeug, "flying gear".
Bicycle? Fahrrad, "drive wheel".

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#German #English #language #words

Library? Bücherei, "bookery".
Dictionary? Wörterbuch, "word book".
Orthography? Rechtschreibung, "right writing".
Capital? Großbuchstabe, "big letter".
The other capital? Hauptstadt, "head city".

I could go on. There's so much Greek and Latin and French mixed into English, and it often feels so unnecessary. The literal translations often sound entirely understandable.

Any other examples that come to your mind? Also in other languages?

3/3

hanser Mar 30, 2023

Glove? Handschuh, "hand shoe"

Jack Rusher Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic I assume you’re doing a bit, as the romance versions are mostly identical to the German ones (zB drei + eck = tri + angle, &c), in no small part because they are calques of late-Latin terms that were eingedeutscht’d in the 1600s for nationalist reasons.

For me, the loveliest German words are the ones that also have a poetic aspect, like Glühbirne 🌟🍐😍

@jack but that's the thing, English is using Latin or Greek words instead of English ones, whereas the German ones are German, in the given examples.

Paul Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic
One example for the other direction:
Fenster (= fenestra)? window, "wind eye".
@jack

@paul_panke @jack that's a beautiful etymology!

hollarius Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic @paul_panke @jack nicht "Windloch"?
Und ja, Fenster kommt aus dem lateinischen.

Jack Rusher Mar 31, 2023

@paul_panke @vrandecic ah, wait, I misread this the first time 😂

@jack 1600s is much earlier than I would have expected! Plenty of correspondence still in Latin at that time, of I remember correctly

Jack Rusher Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Very much so! The scholars who codified High German all wrote Latin and spoke different (often not mutually comprehensible) Germanic dialects. The closest thing to a standard written form of German at the time was an older form of Schwabian imposed by the Hohenstaufen dynasty.

Lucas Werkmeister Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic
Quill? Schreibfeder, “writing feather”.
Desk? Schreibtisch, “writing table”.
Monitor? Bildschirm, “picture screen”.
Umbrella? Regenschirm, “rain screen”.
Parasol? Sonnenschirm, “sun screen”.

Osma Suominen Mar 30, 2023

@LucasWerkmeister
@vrandecic Again very similar in Finnish:

Quill: sulkakynä, "feather pen"
Desk: kirjoituspöytä, "writing table"
Monitor: näyttö, "display" or "evidence"
Umbrella: sateenvarjo, "rain shadow"
Parasol: aurinkovarjo, "sun shadow"

Swedish is similar too. Also Estonian. It's really English that is the odd, illogical language that everyone has to learn.

Ysegrim Mar 31, 2023

@LucasWerkmeister @vrandecic … I raise
"Stationary" Schreibwaren, "writing goods"
"Typewriter" Schreibmaschine, "writing machine"
"Office" Schreibstube, "writing room" -- okay, this one is very archaic
"Spelling" Schreibweise, "writing kind"
"Excercise book", "Schreibheft", "writing book"

etc :-)

Lucas Werkmeister Mar 31, 2023

@ysegrim @vrandecic Schreibmaschine is wonderful :) I like how Spülmaschine and dishwasher are kinda similar but not calques, and then of course there's Waschmaschine / washing machine

@ysegrim @LucasWerkmeister

For spelling I would have used buchstabieren - literally, "to letter".

@LucasWerkmeister @vrandecic
Hospital?
Ambulance?
Morgue?

I'm curious.

@hellomiakoda @LucasWerkmeister

Hospital: Krankenhaus, "house for the sick"

Ambulance: Krankenwagen, "car for the sick"

Morgue: Leichenhalle, "Hall for (dead body)" (Leiche is not a compound work, unlike in English the "dead body")

@vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister

Ok, let me take a guess...

Hearse would be "car for the (dead body)", leichenwagen?

Orange Lantern Mar 31, 2023

@hellomiakoda @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister Yes, exactly. :)

@orangelantern @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister

😏
Leichenrohr would be where to hide the evidence, "Pipe for the (dead body)"

@orangelantern @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister

Leichenfleisch! SOYLENT GREEN!!!
🤣

Orange Lantern Mar 31, 2023

@hellomiakoda @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister Do I need to be worried about you? 😅

@orangelantern @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister

Schweinelichen = Officer down!! 🤣

Orange Lantern Mar 31, 2023

@hellomiakoda @vrandecic @LucasWerkmeister I don't think that is a thing requiring a specific word. Never go to a country where it is. Just as a general piece of wisdom.

@hellomiakoda @orangelantern @LucasWerkmeister I should add that Leiche is indeed specific to human dead bodies.

@vrandecic @orangelantern @LucasWerkmeister Yes, what other type of dead body would I need to hide as evidence in a drain pipe?

@hellomiakoda @orangelantern @LucasWerkmeister

...

good point

NoHomers Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic OK but English wins on conservation of syllables. By the time they can say I need to go to the dentist because I eat too much rectangular pork, we've already won the war.

@NoHomers in general yes, but in specific no: Zahnarzt and dentist have the same number of syllables

NoHomers Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Well ok, good point. Haha.

JR Buckley 🏳️‍🌈⚛️Mar 30, 2023

@NoHomers @vrandecic
Well, just look at all of German's compound words!

hollarius Mar 30, 2023

@NoHomers @vrandecic "Ich muss zum Zahnarzt, weil ich zu viel rechteckiges Schweinefleisch gegessen habe." 21 Silben (Syllables), in English you needed 18, it is not that far away ... ;)

reticuleena Leena Simon Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Lighter: Feuerzeug - Fire thing

@reticuleena Feuerzeug is great! But lighter isn't too bad either. At least it's not pyrogenitor or something like that.

Simon Kowalewski Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Germany had a few times when there were efforts made to purge foreign words from our language. Some replacements stuck (e.g. "Bahnsteig" to replace "Perron"), some did not (like "Zerknalltriebling" instead of "Motor"). But I think these concerted efforts at language puritanism feel a bit artificial.

@deBaer I can see why Zerknalltriebling didn't succeed... And agreed, they are artificial. I am not a huge fan of language change by committee.

hollarius Mar 30, 2023

@deBaer @vrandecic
Anschrift statt Adresse, Leidenschaft für Passion, Augenblick für Moment - es war schon teilweise sehr erfolgreich ...

Simon Kowalewski Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic Btw, there's also a (mostly humoristic) variation of English called Anglish that tries to replace the foreign words. A nice introductory video (or should I say "inleading film") is here: https://youtu.be/aMA3M6b9iEY

ANGLISH: English without the 'foreign' bits

YouTube

Michael Engel Mar 31, 2023

@deBaer @vrandecic Cool video, thanks for the link! The video's example of using "other" for "second" is still present in Scandinavian languages ("andre"/"andra"/"anden" in Norwegian/Swedish/Danish), whereas German uses the equivalent of "twoth" - "zweite"...

Bjørn Bäuchle Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic kettel? Wasserkocher, "water cooker".

Oh and my favorite since I realized it via it's Norwegian translation:
Probable? Wahrscheinlich, "true-seemly"

Debora Weber-Wulff Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Icelandic is grandios for such words!
Útvarp - radio- cast out
Sjónvarp - TV- seeing cast out
Tölvu - computer - number oracle

[aware event]Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic Huh, I’d only ever heard “Bibliothek” before.

claus Mar 30, 2023

@vrandecic You forgot to list the best German compound word of them all.

Glove: Handschuh. A shoe for the hand.

Jaddy Mar 30, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ggwuN5NkFs

Would you like to learn some really german(ic) words?

There's a hilarious video of a german satirist, decomposing the latin/greek loan words in the famous "Die Glocke".

Thomas Freitag - Schillers Glocke

YouTube

levampyre Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic A "Bücherei" is a "bookshop", not a "library". A "library" is a "Bibliothek". So much for Greek words in English.

Lea 🌱Mar 31, 2023

@levampyre
@vrandecic
A "Bücherei" is indeed a library and
"Bücherhandlung" is "book trading".

@levampyre a "library" in the sense of an institution where to lend books can indeed be either "Bibliothek" or "Bücherei".

The books one has at home and may refer to as "library" would never be called a "Bücherei", but indeed a "Bibliothek"

A book shop also cannot be called a "Bücherei", but a "Buchhandlung"

Claire Bräuer

@vrandecic Calligraphy? Schönschrift, "pretty writing".

Oleksiy Pyltsov Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic Protein? Eiweiß, “egg white”

Henryk Plötz Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic My favourite ones are where you need an advanced degree in Latin to talk about your body in English:

Sinus? Nasennebenhöhle, "next-to-nose cave".
Larynx? Kehlkopf, "head of throat".
Carotid artery? Halsschlagader, "Neck beating artery".
Femur? Oberschenkelknochen, "upper thigh bone".

Peter Jakobs ⛵Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic I suppose you are aware of "Anglish"?
https://theanglishtimes.com/

The Anglish Times

The latest world news written in Anglish, a kind of English without borrowed words.

@pjakobs now I am!

Peter Jakobs ⛵Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic it is.... very odd.

Aleks Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic I don't know what your problem is. Engish is perfectly accessible—if you know Greek.

number137 Mar 31, 2023

Chinese seems also to have a pretty pratical approach for naming things

* Beijing: "Northern Capital"
* Nanjing: "Southern Capital"

(I only can find a list with much more examples that went through my timeline...)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse

number137 Mar 31, 2023

there is also the "Grass Mud Horse" alpaca subspecies 🙃

Grass Mud Horse - Wikipedia

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/694108-the-problem-with-defending-the-purity-of-the-english-language

Peter

🧷Mar 31, 2023

@vrandecic
“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

A quote by James D. Nicoll

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occas...

@pludikovsky I don't care about the purity of English or any other language, but about making it easy to understand. Many of these terms could be constructed from widely used words and thus be easier to understand.