Denny VrandečićMar 30, 2023

I really love some German words, and can only shake my head about how inaccessible English likes to be.

Hydrogen? That's Wasserstoff, "water stuff".
Carbon? Kohlenstoff, "coal stuff".
Triangle? Dreieck, "three corner".
Quadrilateral? Viereck, "four corner".
Pentagon? Fünfeck, "five corner".
Rectangle? Rechteck, "right corner".
Suburb? Vorort, "before the place".
Telescope? Fernrohr, "far pipe".
Television? Fernseher, "far viewer".

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Show threadDenny VrandečićMar 30, 2023

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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Show threadDenny VrandečićMar 30, 2023

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?

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#German #English #language #words

Show threadJack Rusher

@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 🌟🍐😍

Mar 30, 2023 at 7:17amWeb
Show threadDenny VrandečićMar 30, 2023
@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.
Show threadPaulMar 30, 2023
@vrandecic
One example for the other direction:
Fenster (= fenestra)? window, "wind eye".
@jack
Show threadDenny VrandečićMar 30, 2023
@paul_panke @jack that's a beautiful etymology!
Show threadhollariusMar 30, 2023
@vrandecic @paul_panke @jack nicht "Windloch"?
Und ja, Fenster kommt aus dem lateinischen.
Show threadJack RusherMar 31, 2023
@paul_panke @vrandecic ah, wait, I misread this the first time 😂
Show threadDenny VrandečićMar 30, 2023
@jack 1600s is much earlier than I would have expected! Plenty of correspondence still in Latin at that time, of I remember correctly
Show threadJack RusherMar 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.