"The pardon came just seconds before the execution - es stand Spitz auf Knopf."
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Spitz auf Knopf
Spitz auf Knopf (tip on button) is used to express the last moment before it gets REALLY bad. Similar in English: "in the 11th hour" and "in the nick of time."
"The pardon came just seconds before the execution - es stand Spitz auf Knopf."
"The pardon came just seconds before the execution - es stand Spitz auf Knopf."
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Ride of the Valkyries ... Not
It's that time of year again, and on the so-called "Grüner Hügel" (green hill), in Bayreuth, Germany, the operas of Richard Wagner are being playing live for those who ordered tickets before they were born. This year, Tannhaeuser, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meisersaenger von Nuernberg, Lohengrin, and Parsifal are being performed at the100th anniversary of the Bayreuther Festspiele. The Valkyries won't be riding this year, since Wagner's Ring trilogy will next be performed in 2013 to its 100th anniversary. Certainly, the so-called Ride of the Valkyries (Ritt der Walkueren) is arguably one of the most well known pieces of Wagner's music. You can hear it here: Ride of the Valkyries at Project Gutenberg.
In German mythology, the Valkyries were maidens (i.e. virgins), their commander was the goddess Freya (whose name gives us our day Friday - Freya's Day, get it?) and it was the job of the Valkyrie to pick up those slain in honor from the battle field and carry them off to Valhalla. So, what does Valkyrie mean, anyway? Well, let's take a look. The German word is Walkuere which is a compound word with wal and kuere. Val/Wal come from the Old Norse valr meaning "those slain in battle" which is related to the latin word volnus for "wound." (In films, Vikings are always yelling about going to Valhalla. This is the hall (halla) of those honorably slain in battle (val.)) Kuere means "choose" and is, in fact, related to that modern English word, coming from the anglo-saxon ciosan. In Dutch, kiezen is "to choose", and "choice" can be both keus or keur. In modern German, we have the word Kuer which we find in the word Kur-fuerst. A Kurfuerst was a Fuerst (prince) who was one of those few princes in the Holy Roman Empire responsible for electing a Kaiser (Emperor). Traditionally (13th century-17th century) there were 7 of these - 3 archbishops and 4 worldly princes.
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| Valkyrie with slain warrior - Walkuere mit gefallenem Krieger |
In German mythology, the Valkyries were maidens (i.e. virgins), their commander was the goddess Freya (whose name gives us our day Friday - Freya's Day, get it?) and it was the job of the Valkyrie to pick up those slain in honor from the battle field and carry them off to Valhalla. So, what does Valkyrie mean, anyway? Well, let's take a look. The German word is Walkuere which is a compound word with wal and kuere. Val/Wal come from the Old Norse valr meaning "those slain in battle" which is related to the latin word volnus for "wound." (In films, Vikings are always yelling about going to Valhalla. This is the hall (halla) of those honorably slain in battle (val.)) Kuere means "choose" and is, in fact, related to that modern English word, coming from the anglo-saxon ciosan. In Dutch, kiezen is "to choose", and "choice" can be both keus or keur. In modern German, we have the word Kuer which we find in the word Kur-fuerst. A Kurfuerst was a Fuerst (prince) who was one of those few princes in the Holy Roman Empire responsible for electing a Kaiser (Emperor). Traditionally (13th century-17th century) there were 7 of these - 3 archbishops and 4 worldly princes.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Call me "Bunny"; I am clueless.
... or something like that could be one loose but funny way to translate the German saying: "Mein Name ist Hase, ich weiss von nichts."
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| "Bunny" in English, "Hase" in German |
The saying - or its short form "Mein Name ist Hase" (literally: "my name is hare") - means "I have no idea." Even many Germans, although they use it, do not know where this saying comes from. In fact, it really has nothing to do with "hares" nor "bunnies".
The German saying comes from a person named Victor von Hase, who, as a student (and member of a "Burschenschaft" or English: "fraternity") at the university in Heidelberg in the middle of the 19th century, helped another student by giving him his own student identity papiers. This student, having killed someone in a duel, used the papers to flee over the border to France. The fugitive was caught in Strasbourg, France, and Victor von Hase, for allegedly having helped the other to flee, had to answer in court. Victor von Hase's answer at the beginning of the trial was: "Mein Name ist Hase; ich verneine die Generalfragen; ich weiss von nichts." "My name is Hase; I answer the accusation with "no"; I know nothing." The middle part of his answer fell away, and the remaining answer "Mein Name ist Hase, ich weiss von nichts" gained humorous fame in the fraternity world, eventually entering into the German and Dutch ("Mijn naam is haas, ik weet van niets.") languages as a saying. [1]
The family "von Hase" has other renowned persons, including, for example, Paul von Hase who was one of those officers involved in the conspiracy of "20 July 1944" to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was executed in Ploetzensee near Berlin as the plot failed. The German ambassador to London (1970-1977) Karl-Guenther von Hase has been described as one of the Queen's "all-time favorites".
[1] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_von_Hase
The German saying comes from a person named Victor von Hase, who, as a student (and member of a "Burschenschaft" or English: "fraternity") at the university in Heidelberg in the middle of the 19th century, helped another student by giving him his own student identity papiers. This student, having killed someone in a duel, used the papers to flee over the border to France. The fugitive was caught in Strasbourg, France, and Victor von Hase, for allegedly having helped the other to flee, had to answer in court. Victor von Hase's answer at the beginning of the trial was: "Mein Name ist Hase; ich verneine die Generalfragen; ich weiss von nichts." "My name is Hase; I answer the accusation with "no"; I know nothing." The middle part of his answer fell away, and the remaining answer "Mein Name ist Hase, ich weiss von nichts" gained humorous fame in the fraternity world, eventually entering into the German and Dutch ("Mijn naam is haas, ik weet van niets.") languages as a saying. [1]
The family "von Hase" has other renowned persons, including, for example, Paul von Hase who was one of those officers involved in the conspiracy of "20 July 1944" to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was executed in Ploetzensee near Berlin as the plot failed. The German ambassador to London (1970-1977) Karl-Guenther von Hase has been described as one of the Queen's "all-time favorites".
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| Coat of Arms - Family "von Hase" |
[1] http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_von_Hase
Monday, July 11, 2011
Aller Anfang ist schwer.
"Aller Anfang ist schwer." Literally: "All beginning is hard." Means, it's always hard to get started and implies that it gets easier once things get going. Similar in English: "The first step is the hardest."
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| "Schwer" means: 1) difficult; 2) heavy |
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Why is an ear of corn called an ear of corn? Well ...
First off, "ear of corn" has nothing to do with "ear of head". Of course, the "ear" in both looks and sounds the same, but they still have nothing to do with one another - just like an eel and a snake look the same, but are completely different. The German word for "ear" (of head) is "Ohr" (pronounced like the English "oar" used to row a boat), and it is no accident that "ear" (of head) and the German "Ohr" sound kind of similar, since they both share a common root.
The "ear" in "ear of corn", however, is scientifically called an "inflorescence" which simply means "a flowering", just like it does in all kinds of grasses and grains, like wheat, barley or whatever.
And, when we think about it, it's no surprise that when we grind up this "flowering", we get a powder called "flour" which basically just means "flower".
In Modern German, the inflorescence (or, as it's more commonly known: "sheath") is called an "Aehre" (pronounced: AIR-uh) which comes from an earlier form of the word: "Aeher". Already, we can recognize the similarity in spelling and sound that exists between that German word and our English "ear" of corn.
In this sense, our "corn" is like wheat on anabolic steroids.
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| "ear" in English, "Ohr" in German |
The "ear" in "ear of corn", however, is scientifically called an "inflorescence" which simply means "a flowering", just like it does in all kinds of grasses and grains, like wheat, barley or whatever.
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| inflorescence ("a flowering") of wheat - or an "ear of wheat" |
And, when we think about it, it's no surprise that when we grind up this "flowering", we get a powder called "flour" which basically just means "flower".
In Modern German, the inflorescence (or, as it's more commonly known: "sheath") is called an "Aehre" (pronounced: AIR-uh) which comes from an earlier form of the word: "Aeher". Already, we can recognize the similarity in spelling and sound that exists between that German word and our English "ear" of corn.
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| "corn" in English - "Mais" in German |
What is called "corn" in English is also called "maize" which comes to us from the Spanish "maiz" (from "mahiz" - a word Columbus and his buddies learned in the Caribbean); the German word is also "Mais". In Germany, corn was primarily considered to be feed for animals. It was first in the 1970's that corn gained popularity with Germans as "human food". In German, an "ear of corn" is called a "Maizkolben."
The German word "Korn" means "grain" and is where we get our word "corn". So, an "ear of corn" comes (roughly) from an "Aehre von Korn"
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| "grain" in English - "Korn" in German |
In this sense, our "corn" is like wheat on anabolic steroids.
(There is also a clear, vodka-like spirit (or "Schnaps") distilled from grain in Germany. This liquor is called "Korn", too!)
Finally, we should take a (somewhat scientific) look at where the word "Aehre" (and "ear") really comes from and which words are related to it:
The ancient (PIE) root *ak means "sharp, pointy" and even "stone" (from the sense of a pointy mountain top). "Aehre" and, so, "ear" developed from the prickly, pointy aspect of a sheath of grain. An example of other English words which contain the same ancient word root/concept are: edge, acid, acrid, acute, acerbate, acumen, acorn, and ax (btw, the Old Norse word for "sheath of grain" was "ax"). The latin word "acer" meaning "sharp, irritating, bitter", the greek word "acme" (pinnacle, zenith, summit) and the greek prefixes "acr, acro" (top, high, highest) also come from this root. Consider the word "acropolis" - the city on the top of the mountain. An example of German words deriving from *ak are: "Essig" (vinegar - because of the acidity) and "Ecke" (corner).
The ancient (PIE) root *ak means "sharp, pointy" and even "stone" (from the sense of a pointy mountain top). "Aehre" and, so, "ear" developed from the prickly, pointy aspect of a sheath of grain. An example of other English words which contain the same ancient word root/concept are: edge, acid, acrid, acute, acerbate, acumen, acorn, and ax (btw, the Old Norse word for "sheath of grain" was "ax"). The latin word "acer" meaning "sharp, irritating, bitter", the greek word "acme" (pinnacle, zenith, summit) and the greek prefixes "acr, acro" (top, high, highest) also come from this root. Consider the word "acropolis" - the city on the top of the mountain. An example of German words deriving from *ak are: "Essig" (vinegar - because of the acidity) and "Ecke" (corner).
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