German expressions that don’t exist in English

Re:German expressions that don’t exist in English by steve1977 on Monday December 30, 2019 @02:23AM (#21911466)

As a native German speaker, I wouldn't translate "mut" in Wehmut as courage. Here it rather is the same as "mood" (and the English word has the same roots). Like in "Anmut", "Dehmut", "Unmut" etc.

So Wehmut literally would be something like "woeful mood" and you could use it more or less synonymous with melancholia (or nostalgia for example).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German expressions that don’t exist in English by yokaze on Monday December 30, 2019 @02:53AM (#21911581)

To my (vague) knowledge, it is an word coined in romanticism to replace the French-rooted word Nostalgie, Schwermut was coined for Melancholie. The movement was fairly nationalistic and was unhappy with the dominance of French in high culture at that time. So they went ahead and coined "German" words were ones with French (or Latin) roots were used.

But please check/correct me on that, my memory might be betraying me here. Not even sure about the source...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German expressions that don’t exist in English by atoav on Monday December 30, 2019 @02:27AM (#21911479)

I don’t really think it is 100% synonymous with melancholia, but that’s probably (sadly?) the way it used today. Wehmut is a little bit of a rare and oldfashioned word which got fashionable in the romantic era through (among others) works of Goethe and got modern reuse in the fantastic Donald Duck translations of Erika Fuchs.

[ Parent | on HN ]