Periodic musings, Geistesblitze, photos, images etcetera. by a “resident alien”, that has got on American dirt from a far-away world also known as “Germany”.

Word of the period: Liebeskummer

A variety of Liebe (admiration) and Kummer (suffering, sadness) that refers to the state of mind of people whoever love life is certainly not going really, particularly the sadness noticed by jilted enthusiasts.

10 responses:

Hey Ulrich, i do believe this is certainly an excellent keyword, and I also can’t contemplate a similar in English. although previously or other, all, or perhaps the majority of, folks need needed seriously to make use of it. What is the guide pertaining to? I really like the title.

The succinct name with the publication, Moselfahrt aus Liebeskummer, is hard to convert gracefully–the literal definition was “Moselle River Trip because Liebeskummer”. Its a novella, written in the 30s, describing a vacation alongside as well as on the Mosel (Moselle) lake during which the narrator attempts to manage their Liebeskummer. It has enjoying explanations associated with the lake, the villages that range they, together with people who develop wines there–I lived in these communities whenever I went to elementary school.

Upon rereading passages of it, however, i have to confess your name could very well be the best part of this book!

“The Germans must-have a phrase for this. Doppelgedanken, possibly: the feeling, when checking out, that own mind is pregnancy on the phrase as they appear on the web page. These types of is the pride that on these rare cases you ask yourself, a€?just how could mcdougal have identified everything I was convinced?a€?

In my opinion the estimate shows that the customer percentage exactly what your website possess over and over shown, your Germans are owners at coming up with words that specifically recognize states of notice. Liebeskummer try still another instance.

: Thx for directed this review down. We recovered the analysis from your pile of newspapers becoming recycled (I’d misied they the other day).

Your quote, generated more powerful b/c it’s the opening section of overview, confirms, just like you say, that it’s very easy to coin brand new terms at that moment in German by hitching along two independent words (frequently nouns, however fundamentally so). Doppelgedanke is actually an example–I’ve never seen it in German, but Germans would understand it during the perspective by which it’s provided, supplied they get the allusion to the well-established DoppelgA¤nger.

I am also, however, quite definitely used by ‘official’ recognition of the capability of German in paragraph and astonished that reviewer believes this way, that she locates it–apparently–convenient, oftentimes, to ‘think in German’.

It really inspires me to carry on with my word-of-the-month threads. But I also desire to claim that English supplies coinages having no equivalent in German, and I may establish a thread quickly handling this complementary topic.

That’s an interesting topic, the English coinages with no genuine equal in German. We ask yourself for a moment get in English–and perchance you will–the form of words I’ve found very delightful in German, those ingredients highlighting, most specifically, a particular frame of mind. Not all of your own German advice do that but a number of have and I also like all of them better than their unique English alternatives, or even equivalents, by way of example, fraidy-cat versus Angsthase. I do wish you can expect to manage together with your statement regarding the period. I must say I take pleasure in them.

The conventional types of English phrases w/o real equal in German include “fair enjoy” and “common sense”–they were used such as that in German long before the current tsunami of English keywords started initially to strike German, which include phrase for which you do not have whatsoever, like “game”, whoever connotations are located in absolutely no way different from compared to German Spiel. In teenager talk, online, marketing an such like German presents itself now as a mixture of German and English. I’m, in fact, interested in witnessing just how all of this will pan out in the end–i.e. when this will strike more as a fad or may have a lasting effect on German, e.g. somewhat enlarge the language. My estimate might be your second can happen.

The upshot is that if i do want to start a thread on English terminology without any actual cognates in German, the specific situation is manufactured more complex by this state of affairs. Nevertheless, I’m beginning a page where We accumulate prospect phrases–I wanted undoubtedly above “reasonable enjoy” and “common sense”.

Stunning term, Liebeskummer, as there are a Dutch equal, liefdesverdriet. It really is incredible there is no English phrase because of it. It occurs sometimes that i am attempting to translate an English expression into Dutch, so there simply is not any correct term. I shall be sure you let you know, Ulrich.