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Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well, spelling is a bit different but the meaning is more or less the same: German -> Swedish Wehmot -> ve

Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well, spelling is a bit different but the meaning is more or less the same: German -> Swedish Wehmot -> vemod Entwicklung -> utveckling Einsam -> ensam Stimmung -> stämmning Entschuldigen -> ursäkta Aufrichtigkeit -> uppriktighet Lebensmut -> livsmod Ursprung -> ursprung Liebenswürdig -> älskvärd Note that Sinneswandel is missing not sure if there is a direct translation in Swedish

turboturbo 7y ago
Same in Dutch! Weemoed, ontwikkeling, eenzaam, stemming, verontschuldigen, oprechtheid, oorsprong. Some are missing, or at least from my vocabulary. Glad I learned something new today!
Svip 7y ago
It's the same in Danish, and I'd imagine Norwegian too. And like Swedish, "Sinneswandel" is missing. The Danish for "Ursprung" is »udspring«, which lit. means something more akin to 'out spring', but we do have the »ur-« prefix in Danish, meaning origin/source. So »urskov« would be the 'origin of forest', or jungle, i.e. it is the thing that it is the origin of all that. In the same sense, you could - jokingly - making the word »urvittighed« meaning the 'original joke'. Compound nouns are extremely powerful.
deaddodo 7y ago
I mean, technically you can do this in English as well. English is a Germanic language and compound words are fully legitimate in the language. The following don't exist in the colloquialisms or formal records of the language, but are grammatically correct: Wehmot -> sorecourage Einsam -> onepeace Stimmung -> innervoice Lebensmut -> lifegrit Liebenswürdig -> loveworthy And, despite the author's claims, many do have direct equivalent words in English: Ursprung -> outspring Aufrichtigkeit -> uprightness Entwicklung -> unwrapping Entschuldigen -> unguilt All of which could be used in the manner described in the article. As well as having accurate one-word synonyms: outspring: origin / original uprightness: compunction unwrapping: developing, delving, growth unguilt: unburden The main difference in the languages is that modern English (especially 20th century on) has relied more on loanwords (another compound word) and hyphenations to augment. Love-worthy, for instance: https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy It's hard to count compound words as "words that don't exist in other languages", honestly. Meanwhile, there are perfectly acceptable (compound or not) words that actually give voice to something hard to describe in other languages. Which is a far more interesting (IMHO) concept; such as "schadenfreude" or, going the other way for many languages, "irony".
- wirrbel 7y ago
  I am not convinced that Wehmut translates to sorecourage. The -mut ending appears in other emotions as well, Sanftmut, Schwermut for example. I think it relates to words like "Gemüt" and corresponds to "mood". So Soremood Softmood Heavymood
  - deaddodo 7y ago
    I took some liberties on a couple to try and capture the meaning of the German word; "einsam" for instance would better translate into "onesome". I'm also not a native speaker, so I could be completely off.
- deanjones 7y ago
  Interestingly here, "loanword" is a calque from the German "lehnwort", which reminds me of my favourite language fact: "loanword" is a calque, and "calque" is a loanword.
usr1106 7y ago
>Entschuldigen -> ursäkta That's not a direct translation as far as I can see. I'm not a native speaker but I don't think säkt does means anything, opposite to Schuld, which has a clear meaning. The direct translation would be something like avskulda, but that's not a word AFAICS.
- iiv 7y ago
  Yes, you are correct. The direct translation is "urskulda" which is a Swedish word meaning "justify" or "excuse".
  - tyfon 7y ago
    In Norwegian unskyld means i'm sorry which corresponds to german. Many of these words just change a bit over time like geld/gjeld which is money in German and debt in Norwegian.
    - marton78 7y ago
      That sounds like "Unschuld" = innocence in German.
Mediterraneo10 7y ago
> Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well. And this is no surprise. Low German was a major trade language of the Baltic region and Swedish absorbed an enormous number of Low German words either as direct borrowings or calques. Then due to the prestige of High German as a literary language in Northern Europe, Swedish calqued further words on German models.

turboturbo 7y ago

Same in Dutch! Weemoed, ontwikkeling, eenzaam, stemming, verontschuldigen, oprechtheid, oorsprong. Some are missing, or at least from my vocabulary. Glad I learned something new today!

Svip 7y ago

It's the same in Danish, and I'd imagine Norwegian too. And like Swedish, "Sinneswandel" is missing. The Danish for "Ursprung" is »udspring«, which lit. means something more akin to 'out spring', but we do have the »ur-« prefix in Danish, meaning origin/source. So »urskov« would be the 'origin of forest', or jungle, i.e. it is the thing that it is the origin of all that. In the same sense, you could - jokingly - making the word »urvittighed« meaning the 'original joke'. Compound nouns are extremely powerful.

deaddodo 7y ago

I mean, technically you can do this in English as well. English is a Germanic language and compound words are fully legitimate in the language. The following don't exist in the colloquialisms or formal records of the language, but are grammatically correct: Wehmot -> sorecourage Einsam -> onepeace Stimmung -> innervoice Lebensmut -> lifegrit Liebenswürdig -> loveworthy And, despite the author's claims, many do have direct equivalent words in English: Ursprung -> outspring Aufrichtigkeit -> uprightness Entwicklung -> unwrapping Entschuldigen -> unguilt All of which could be used in the manner described in the article. As well as having accurate one-word synonyms: outspring: origin / original uprightness: compunction unwrapping: developing, delving, growth unguilt: unburden The main difference in the languages is that modern English (especially 20th century on) has relied more on loanwords (another compound word) and hyphenations to augment. Love-worthy, for instance: https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy https://www.wordnik.com/words/love-worthy It's hard to count compound words as "words that don't exist in other languages", honestly. Meanwhile, there are perfectly acceptable (compound or not) words that actually give voice to something hard to describe in other languages. Which is a far more interesting (IMHO) concept; such as "schadenfreude" or, going the other way for many languages, "irony".

wirrbel 7y ago
I am not convinced that Wehmut translates to sorecourage. The -mut ending appears in other emotions as well, Sanftmut, Schwermut for example. I think it relates to words like "Gemüt" and corresponds to "mood". So Soremood Softmood Heavymood
- deaddodo 7y ago
  I took some liberties on a couple to try and capture the meaning of the German word; "einsam" for instance would better translate into "onesome". I'm also not a native speaker, so I could be completely off.
deanjones 7y ago
Interestingly here, "loanword" is a calque from the German "lehnwort", which reminds me of my favourite language fact: "loanword" is a calque, and "calque" is a loanword.

usr1106 7y ago

>Entschuldigen -> ursäkta That's not a direct translation as far as I can see. I'm not a native speaker but I don't think säkt does means anything, opposite to Schuld, which has a clear meaning. The direct translation would be something like avskulda, but that's not a word AFAICS.

iiv 7y ago
Yes, you are correct. The direct translation is "urskulda" which is a Swedish word meaning "justify" or "excuse".
- tyfon 7y ago
  In Norwegian unskyld means i'm sorry which corresponds to german. Many of these words just change a bit over time like geld/gjeld which is money in German and debt in Norwegian.
  - marton78 7y ago
    That sounds like "Unschuld" = innocence in German.

Mediterraneo10 7y ago

> Interestingly enough the words exists in Swedish as well. And this is no surprise. Low German was a major trade language of the Baltic region and Swedish absorbed an enormous number of Low German words either as direct borrowings or calques. Then due to the prestige of High German as a literary language in Northern Europe, Swedish calqued further words on German models.