The image is from www.uitvaartdoedelzakspeler.nl.
For some reason, a nice memory from when I was studying in Heidelberg popped into my head today: I once encountered a man playing the bagpipe in the middle of a field outside of the city. Funny enough, the German term for bagpipe, Dudelsack, is also among those that have migrated to other languages, so I decided to give it pride of place on my blog today. In Dutch, the bagpipe is called doedelzak and is pronounced almost exactly like the German original - it's just the "l" that is a little bit different.
The image is from www.uitvaartdoedelzakspeler.nl.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM AUSPUFF TO ZEITGEIST - MY BLOG HAS BEEN AROUND FOR A YEAR NOW! THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME!
This week's Word of the Week has a very intriguing history. A Prügelknabe is the German version of a whipping boy, a position that was introduced at the English court a few centuries ago. Whipping boys were boys who grew up and were educated with princes and were punished for the failings of their royal companions. This was because no one but the king had the right to punish a prince, and the king was often absent. This form of discipline worked because the princes often developed a close relationship with their whipping boy, making it hard for them to witness the punishment that they should have undergone themselves. Click here for more background information. Today, Prügelknabe is mainly used as a synonym for scapegoat. The same is true for prygelknabe, which is the form Prügelknabe takes in Danish and Norwegian. The image is from www.gucca.dk. I suppose I'm a hausfrau myself right now, what with my baby daughter only being eight weeks old. But I prefer the neutral English definition of hausfrau - a (German) housewife - to the more informal one, "a woman regarded as overly domesticated or efficient" (Oxford Dictionary). However, my impression is that the word is far more often used in a demeaning rather than a neutral way. Hausfrau is a term from US English, by the way. And I think you'd be surprised at the number of hausfrau-themed blogs out there on the Web, most of them trying to be at least a little ironic about the term.
The image is from glamoroushausfrau.blogspot.com. This week's term is an interesting one. The German Zugzwang is originally a chess term. In this context, it describes a situation in which a player is obliged to make a move, but where any move will put him or her at a disadvantage. This is the way zugzwang is used in English. In Russian, цугцванг ("tsugtsvang") was originally used for chess only, too. Nowadays, however, it can also be used to describe hopeless real-life situations. In modern German, the term has largely lost the connotation of something unpleasant waiting ahead no matter what you do. It still means that one is obliged to do something (urgently), though, so the notion of compulsion is still there.
By the way, the text below today's image reads "Zugzwang occurs more often in real life than in chess." I think I agree. The image is from www.prozaru.com. Those of you who'd like to spend the rest of January beneath a sunny sky should perhaps get in touch with a reisibüroo (at least if you live in a certain Baltic country.) The German term Reisebüro (travel agency) might be slowly dying out because brick-and-mortar travel outfits are having a hard time, but at least there is another country where they use it, too - Estonia.
Many thanks to my colleague Joke Jochum for sending me the inspiring map of German terms abroad where I found this word. The image is from www.pvk.ee. Although winter still hasn't arrived in Amsterdam yet, it is cold enough for me to wear a Halstuch (scarf, neckerchief) when I go for a walk. The Russian version of Halstuch - галстук ("galstuk") - wouldn't keep me very warm, however, since a галстук is a tie. In modern German, a tie is called Krawatte (which, by the way, comes from the Croatian word for "Croatian") or, less formally, Schlips.
In Russian, an informal meeting is called a встреча без галстуков ("vstrecha bez galstukov") - literally, a "meeting without ties". The image is from www.tsokno.com. This is a recent discovery of mine, and one that concerns several languages. In English, Dutch and French (and perhaps even more languages), the musical instrument you can see above is known by its German name, Glockenspiel. In German, however, Glockenspiel has a second meaning that didn't survive the transfer to the other languages - "carillon".
The image is from www.kids.britannica.com. I believe that this week's choice is one of those words that spread to other languages because they fill a gap - they provide a name for something that is nameless in those languages. Kitsch is used in English, French, Dutch and Danish, to name just a few.
The image is from www.theworldofkitsch.com. This week's Word of the Week is one of my Russian favorites. My impression is that it is a recent addition to the Russian vocabulary, reflecting the type of car many Russians have been coveting since the end of the USSR. Geländewagen (all-terrain vehicle) became гелендваген (gelendvagen). This term was probably only used for the Mercedes Benz G-Class at the beginning, but seems to have become a generic term for off-road vehicles, giving rise to some typically Russian nicknames such as Гелик (Gelik), Гелен (Gelen) and Гелендос (Gelendos). The German pronunciation poses some challenges for Russian speakers, resulting in the loss of the "e" at the end of Gelände and a shift of stress from "ä" to the "a" in "vagen".
The image is from www.gelandewagen.org. Admittedly, this week's pick isn't a very good fit for the peace-loving pre-Christmas season. Hetze (in the sense of agitation against somebody/something; hunt) is used in Dutch with the same meaning. As a German I can't help thinking of the Nazi's hate campaign against the Jews, the Judenhetze, whenever I see this word.
Nonetheless, I wish you all a happy time in the run-up to Christmas! The image is from www.stichtingmilieunet.nl. |
AboutThis is a blog about the traces German (my mother tongue) has left in other languages. Contributions from your language(s) are more than welcome! Mail me at b.priebe@aiic.net. Archives
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