Jump to content
Linguaholic

German Loanwords in the English language


Hattori Hanzo

Recommended Posts

German loanwords in the English language

I already started a thread about Loanwords in the Japanese Language. I would like to do the same for German loandwords in the English language. Up to now I found those one’s here:

Hamburger ,Schnapps, Handstand, Rucksack, Kindergarten,Poltergeist, uber / über, Blitzkrieg, Zeitgeist

I am sure there are many more and I hope that maybe some German speakers can provide more :=) The  Uber / über one is really strange to me, I can not really understand it. Would be grateful for an example / a clarification !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Center Script Content

Let me add another two: Schadenfreude and Fachidiot. Those one's are pretty funny if you ask me:=)  8) 8) There should be a dozen others deriving from the second world war...I will do some research on this...if you know more, spread the knowledge guys

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I remember Zeitgeist. Also, Weltschmerz seems to be becoming an increasingly common part of psychologists' and philosophers' vocabulary, even among English speaking ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

English developed out of Early German(ic), which is why there are so many similarities between the two.  When I was in Germany, I was able to figure out many signs because of this sameness.

Of course, many language borrow from others, and English is no exception.  As the members have pointed out, there are many loan words.

Ersatz, which someone mentioned already, is one of my favorites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I was thinking where I have encountered the word Ersatz and then I remembered TV Tropes, I checked it out and basically spent an hour browsing. Anyways, I didn't know that it was German.

As for (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Über) über, I only knew about it first from Übermensch which is probably why I sort of use it like "super" although it has many uses which is enumerated on Wikipedia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another favorite word is "angst". It has a different meaning in English though. It originally means "fear" in German but in English has taken on a meaning closer to "anxiety", "depression" or "internal turmoil".

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "deli" from German "Delikatessen".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, Weltschmerz seems to be becoming an increasingly common part of psychologists' and philosophers' vocabulary, even among English speaking ones.

What is Weltschmerz, in the English context, please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...