Of victims and sacrifices - Opfer

Today it occurred to me that the German word "Opfer" is used in two senses that have very different words in English. 

The "Opfer" of giving up something (involuntarily, painfully, or for someone elses benefit) is called "sacrifice", and the "Opfer" who's had their wallet stolen is a "victim". 

Now, the two are close together, as the one who is the victim is also in a way doing the sacrificing, so it's maybe not so strange German uses the same word for both.

What struck me, however, was that both English words in use here are non-Germanic. So I wondered: what is the Germanic word? And what came to mind was: "offer". 

Certainly close enough in sound and looks to be the corresponding word. And you can "offer up" something as a sacrifice. The English word, though, appears to have travelled far and wide in the realm of usage and thus retained a general sense of "here, have this" as its meaning, quite neutral and everyday, whereas the German version settled on the much narrower context of a painful parting or loss, so that we needed to come up with a different word for 'suggestion (willingly or in a commercial context) for someone else to take something' (i.e. "here, have this" or 'offer'): Angebot. Which has to do with bidding and opens up a whole new other kettle of fish. 

"Erzittre, feiger Bösewicht!" - "Ich bin zwar Verbrecherin"

 These are lines from "The Magic Flute" that jumped to my mind recently and made me go 'hmmmh'.

A "Bösewicht" is an evil guy, from "böse" = "evil" and "Wicht" ... yes, well, that's probably the rub.

"Wicht" would seem to be related to "Wichtel" which is a dwarf/pixie/elf - but then the suffix -el is a diminuitive, so maybe a "Wicht" is not per se a "small guy" (which is what it would seem to mean today, though today it's not a word you'd really use at all), but just a word for 'guy' with negative connotations (it certainly has those) - so, an evil guy, really (making "Bösewicht" a bit of a tautology in order to stress the "evil" part). 

(Also (and supporting the above, I think), a "Wicht" is a close relation to a "wight" (those silent "gh" combos in English used to be pronounced in Old English and sounded like the "ch" in German words) - and those are not exactly nice guys, either.)

The thing is that nowadays (maybe because of "Wichtel", still in common use) you would not use "Bösewicht" to refer to something seriously evil or scary. If you use it, it'll be slightly tongue-in-cheek and generally rather harmless. In "The Magic Flute", by contrast, it is clearly seriously evil. The implication here is an habitual evildoer, someone who is evil by nature.

- which brings us to the second quote and the next part of this entry, the concept of the word "Verbrechen".

A "Verbrechen" in modern German is serious. It translates as "(serious) crime" and a "Verbrecher" - which translates as "criminal" - in common usage is really a bit more than someone who has committed a crime, it's someone who commits crimes because that is what they do - a habit or (you'll guess what I'm getting at by now) something in their nature.

However, in "The Magic Flute", we have sweet Pamina calling herself "Verbrecherin", something she certainly isn't by modern usage of the word. So, extreme hyperbole? Maybe a bit, but I think it's a case of change of meaning. It's a curious word, that one. The prefix "ver-" is very common but has no one clear meaning or derivation. The "brechen" part is easier - it means "break". A crime is a breach of a rule. So if you break a rule what you do is a "Verbrechen". In fact, one online dictionary entry informed me, with apparent astonishment, that "Verbrechen" is an old word and in medieval times was used for small infringements as well as proper crimes. And that would seem to me to be exactly the point. You break a rule, it is a "Verbrechen". Pamina has certainly broken a rule (i.e. done what she knew she wasn't supposed to). What in this context it is not, however, is something that marks you as evil by nature. That is only the modern connotation of the word. 

So, what I see here are two words that basically swapped their connotations:

Bösewicht 

• 18th century: person of evil nature
• today: somewhat naughty boy

Verbrecher

• 18th century: someone who breaks a rule 
• today: evildoer

Viel Erfolg!

 So, what do you say in English when you want to give good wishes for a successful outcome of an enterprise?

In German, we say "viel Erfolg!" - literally translated:"much success" - basically short for "I wish you success with your enterprise/task/activity."

It seems to me, the only thing you can say in English in such a situation is: "good luck!"

I've always found that very unsatisfactory. Sure, there are enterprises where luck is the decisive factor. If we were talking about this blog, maybe, for readers to find it, for those reader who do find it to happen to have the same interest in language, for the technology to work - these are things that I can't influence much, so they are down to luck. But if we are talking about exams, for example - the context in which the phrase is most often used - as far as I'm concerned, luck doesn't enter into it. If I've studied, I might even find it slightly offensive for the wisher to suppose I need luck to help me along with a test.

Maybe English mentality with regard to exams is different? Maybe there is a feeling that the examiner is always out to trick you, that you can never be good enough to pass without getting lucky with the questions falling right? While in German we suppose that an exam is an honest affair that just checks that I studied, so if I have there's no reason to expect failure? Or maybe it's just me not minding exams?

If anyone knows of something other than "good luck" to say if someone heads for an exam, please let me know!

They don't have a word for "fluffy"

One of the funny stereotypes I've heard in which English speakers seem to think about the German language is that it is somehow harsh or brutal and that one aspect of this harshness is that German "doesn't have a word for 'fluffy'". 

And it's true, we don't. Or rather, we do. Several of them.

But our concepts differ from the English and that's why there is not a 1 : 1 correspondence between words that can be used in German and English to express the quality of fluffiness.

As a teacher, I often see how much this can confuse students. As a lover of language, I find the topic fascinating. As a near-bilingual in German and English, I come across situations where a word seems to be 'missing' in one of the languages pretty regularly.

And that's what this blog is about.

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In case you were wondering: the German word for 'fluffy' is 'flauschig'. They look like they are related, too. However, only textiles can be 'flauschig' - pillows or towels that are 'fluffy' are 'flauschig'. A soufflé, however, can be 'fluffy' but not 'flauschig'. You would have to say 'luftig' in that case ('airy').

It seems, though, that Germans have internalised the reproach - or felt the need for a cute and easy word to cover all aspects of fluffiness, and so, in the last ten years or so, have come up with the word 'fluffig' - an obvious adaptation of the English word - which has made it into the dictionary, too.