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You can see the same with the word "sea". Its German equivalent See still mainly means "lake", even though in some fixed expressions it can be translated as "se

You can see the same with the word "sea". Its German equivalent See still mainly means "lake", even though in some fixed expressions it can be translated as "sea" (e.g. Nordsee, Ostsee).

Lutzb 15d ago
Der See - the lake Die See - the ocean
- Basje 15d ago
  As a Dutch person, we were taught German in secondary school and Meer/See were the textbook example of false friends: het meer - der See - the lake de zee - das Meer - the sea I don't remember being taught "die See" but I also dropped my German course after one year (which I now regret). Anyway, I always thought this was an interesting development in our languages.
  - samus 14d ago
    "die See" refers to the sea in general, not to a specific body of water, unless it is part of a name, like "Nordsee". The English word "sea" is also sometimes used in this sense, but it's less apparent since "the" carries no gender: "He liked living close to the sea." - doesn't really refer to a specific sea or ocean even though the definite article has been used. (I'm happy to be corrected if this is an ungrammatical sentence since I'm not a native English speaker)
niemandhier 15d ago
I remember reading that, in middlelow German the meanings were swapped “See” meaning the ocean and “Meer” meaning large body of standing water. That’s probably why the lake is called “Steinhuder Meer”. In low German the word for ocean still is “See”.
- nephihaha 15d ago
  The word "mere" in English is pretty uncommon but tends to refer to small bodies of water.
  - mr_toad 15d ago
    There are dozens of lakes in England, and a few in other english speaking countries with the word mere in their name.
    - nephihaha 15d ago
      Hence I said "pretty uncommon'. Windermere is the most prominent example but is often called Lake Windermere. There is also Fowlmere nature reserve. Definitely not the most common name for inland bodies of water by a country mile though. "Pond", "pool", and "lake" are more common.
      - saispas 14d ago
        I read your post, and it got me thinking because, round here in Cheshire,v'mere' is a very common name for a bigger stretch of water ('pool' is generally reserved for smaller stretches of water). So I did a quick search to check, both from memory and by looking at the map – not because I doubted you being right in general across the UK, but because locally 'mere' is so common. Anyway, towns or bodies of water with 'Mere' in Cheshire: Mere, Mere Heath, Ellesmere Port, Blakemere, Delamere, Oakmere, Tatton Mere, Comber Mere, Pickmere, Manley Mere, Shakerly Mere, Marbury (means 'Fortified town by the lake'), Marbury Big Mere, the Quoisley Meres, Flaxmere, Hatchmere, Radnor Mere, Astbury Mere, Rossmere, Rostherne Mere, Nunsmere, The Mere, Little Mere… and then I got bored, so I may have missed a couple. Anyway, that's at least 23, and Cheshire is not a noticeably watery place, compared to some other counties. In contrast, there are very few lakes: I could find Oulton Park Lake (man-made in the late 18th Century), and Acre Nook Lake, Lapwing Hall Lake, and another unnamed one – a series of quarry pits turned into a watersports centre in the 2010s. So it looks like that in Cheshire at least, the normal name for a 'larger than a pond' body of water or nearby town is 'mere'. Thanks for sending me down this interesting (well, to me, anyway) rabbit hole…
embedding-shape 15d ago
Yeah, my mother tongue is similar, "sea" and "ocean" has the exact same word, so of course when I speak English I accidentally call a bunch of seas for oceans instead.

You can see the same with the word "sea". Its German equivalent See still mainly means "lake", even though in some fixed expressions it can be translated as "sea" (e.g. Nordsee, Ostsee).

Lutzb 15d ago

Der See - the lake Die See - the ocean

Basje 15d ago
As a Dutch person, we were taught German in secondary school and Meer/See were the textbook example of false friends: het meer - der See - the lake de zee - das Meer - the sea I don't remember being taught "die See" but I also dropped my German course after one year (which I now regret). Anyway, I always thought this was an interesting development in our languages.
- samus 14d ago
  "die See" refers to the sea in general, not to a specific body of water, unless it is part of a name, like "Nordsee". The English word "sea" is also sometimes used in this sense, but it's less apparent since "the" carries no gender: "He liked living close to the sea." - doesn't really refer to a specific sea or ocean even though the definite article has been used. (I'm happy to be corrected if this is an ungrammatical sentence since I'm not a native English speaker)

niemandhier 15d ago

I remember reading that, in middlelow German the meanings were swapped “See” meaning the ocean and “Meer” meaning large body of standing water. That’s probably why the lake is called “Steinhuder Meer”. In low German the word for ocean still is “See”.

nephihaha 15d ago
The word "mere" in English is pretty uncommon but tends to refer to small bodies of water.
- mr_toad 15d ago
  There are dozens of lakes in England, and a few in other english speaking countries with the word mere in their name.
  - nephihaha 15d ago
    Hence I said "pretty uncommon'. Windermere is the most prominent example but is often called Lake Windermere. There is also Fowlmere nature reserve. Definitely not the most common name for inland bodies of water by a country mile though. "Pond", "pool", and "lake" are more common.
    - saispas 14d ago
      I read your post, and it got me thinking because, round here in Cheshire,v'mere' is a very common name for a bigger stretch of water ('pool' is generally reserved for smaller stretches of water). So I did a quick search to check, both from memory and by looking at the map – not because I doubted you being right in general across the UK, but because locally 'mere' is so common. Anyway, towns or bodies of water with 'Mere' in Cheshire: Mere, Mere Heath, Ellesmere Port, Blakemere, Delamere, Oakmere, Tatton Mere, Comber Mere, Pickmere, Manley Mere, Shakerly Mere, Marbury (means 'Fortified town by the lake'), Marbury Big Mere, the Quoisley Meres, Flaxmere, Hatchmere, Radnor Mere, Astbury Mere, Rossmere, Rostherne Mere, Nunsmere, The Mere, Little Mere… and then I got bored, so I may have missed a couple. Anyway, that's at least 23, and Cheshire is not a noticeably watery place, compared to some other counties. In contrast, there are very few lakes: I could find Oulton Park Lake (man-made in the late 18th Century), and Acre Nook Lake, Lapwing Hall Lake, and another unnamed one – a series of quarry pits turned into a watersports centre in the 2010s. So it looks like that in Cheshire at least, the normal name for a 'larger than a pond' body of water or nearby town is 'mere'. Thanks for sending me down this interesting (well, to me, anyway) rabbit hole…

embedding-shape 15d ago

Yeah, my mother tongue is similar, "sea" and "ocean" has the exact same word, so of course when I speak English I accidentally call a bunch of seas for oceans instead.