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Posted

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 !

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Posted

I can tell this is going to be a fun thread. Let me add some off the top of my head:

Waltz / Walzer

Apple Strudel / Apfelstrudel

Nickel / Nickel

Hamster / Hamster

Bratwurst / Bratwurst

Hertz / Hertz

Diesel / Dieselmotor

Keep adding to the list!

Posted

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

Posted

Simply put, Schadenfreude is when you are having a bit of enjoyment at the misfortunes of others :=)

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

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

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

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.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

I know a few more. Doppelgänger, Gesundheit and Sauerkraut.

German is quite similar to Dutch, I would've said that 'Handstand' was Dutch (or even plain English), didn't know it was a Germanism.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

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.

Posted

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".

Posted

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?

Posted

Has schadenfreude become a loan word now? I was under the impression that it's a german word that is just used as such because there is not direct english translation for it without being descriptive.

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