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"Zeug" makes more sense if you think of it as the English "gear" -- tools and equipment, the original etymology -- which is also uncountable. "Thing" isn't enti
by atombender 8y ago
"Zeug" makes more sense if you think of it as the English "gear" -- tools and equipment, the original etymology -- which is also uncountable. "Thing" isn't entirely wrong, but it's specifically a thing that is some sort of device that has utility. A Flugzeug can be thought or as flying equipment, Fahrzeug is driving equipment, and so on.
In Norwegian and Danish you'll have -tøy/-tøj words that came from Germanic via Old Norse: "fartøy" (vehicle or boat, as in "Fahrzeug"), "leketøy/legetøj" (toy; literally play-thing).
"Zeug" (or rather, its proto-Germanic ancestor) survives in English as "toy", funnily enough.
- kuerbel 8y agoThank you, now I don't have to explain it haha. I just want to add that in medieval times Zeug was also used to refer to arms and armor. Some cities still have a Zeughaus, nowadays usually a museum for plate armor etc. The pejorative connotation wasn't there back then.
- bhaak 8y agoIn Switzerland the term "Zeughaus" is still in use as the official term for an arsenal or armory.
- FearNotDaniel 8y agoNot to mention "lekking", which still means "playing" in parts of northern England.
- Tistron 8y agoIn Swedish we also have "-tyg" and "-don" which is similar. So we have far-tyg for faring-stuff on water, and for-don for faring-stuff on land. Tyg on itself is fabric, like "stoff" is in German or Danish (in Danish stof is also drugs or matter in general).
- FabHK 8y ago"Gear" makes a lot of sense. "Zaumzeug" denotes the bridles used to control horses. Etymology is just fascinating.