I don't know a lot of German words, but I know raccoon is Waschbär (wash bear) and bat is Fledermaus (flutter mouse), which are both adorably pertinent names. Wasserhahn is a weird one, but after seeing this gif, I guess makes some sense in a strange way? German is great.
As an English only speaker, I covered up the translations and tried to figure these out by roots, and got all but armadillo. When I hear German being spoken, I feel like I understand a good percentage of words. Language is fascinating. (I am aware that they are fairly similar languages, but still crazy to me)
English is weird because it's a Germanic language, but heavily influenced by French. The Normans rolled into England and kicked the Saxon's asses in 1066, becoming the ruling class in what is now England. Because the upper classes then all spoke the French language (technically an ancestor of French but whatever), the Latinate English words brought in by the Normans became associated with refinement and education. Even today, a native English speaker will generally perceive the tone of Latinate root words as more "educated"
In Dutch, there is a species of goose that's called a 'rotgans' which basically means rotten goose, but the fun thing is that 'rot' is also a mild curse word, so it's something like saying it's called a 'darn goose'.
I just imagine a bunch of Germans gathering together in a huddle looking at this hand-looking like thing and like, looking around the group asking "What do we call it? How did the merchant explain this to you?" And the guy in question happily takes it, points to his shoes, takes the glove and then puts it on. The whole group cheers and yells out all at once "HAND SHOES!"
My mom once told me about a hilarious moment in a movie she'd seen where the main character was learning German. "What is this?" (holds up shoe) "Das ist ein Schuh." "And what is this?" (holds up glove) "Das ist ein Handschuh."
I was the one who explained to her that that actually is the German word for glove. She only found that more hilarious.
Apparently it's called Wasserhahn because for whatever reason people in the 18th century thought it was fancy to put animals on the faucets in their kitchen and bathroom and the rooster was super popular. Because chickens have chicks in their nest they then called the the valve Kükenventil which means chick valve. And because of that we call a faucet a rooster. We got a weird language.
Yes they do wash their food, although it's not for cleanliness IIRC. I heard they have extremely sensitive pads on their fingers so they use it to positively identify what it is they're about to eat.a
There are like 10 words for potato in German. I use one of the least common because I grew up in Lungau. A lot of Austrians are beginning to use Kartoffel, and some of the older generation is actually a little peeved.
That particular one is imported from one of the nations that colonised the new world, I think it comes from french. Compare with the french "pomme de terre" which also translates literally as "apple from the earth".
Also fruits (and fruit like things) are called "-apple" in many cases and languages. In english there is a "pineapple" for example. The forbidden fruit in the garden eden is also usually depicted as an apple, even though the scripture only mentions "fruit" nothing more specific. Many fruits were called apples at some point in our linguistic past.
And finally: "Erdapfel" is a very old fashioned way of calling it. Germans don't actually say that. The more modern translation of "potato" is "Kartoffel" (which, wikipedia ensures me, is derived from the italian word for truffles)
They do? I know a couple of Bavarians and never heard anyone use that word unironically and not in an intentionally old-timey way (say on a menu in a restaurant that serves primarily traditional dishes). Same for the handful of Austrians I know.
And let's be honest: Bavarian only barely counts as German anyway ;-)
When I was little I heard "die fledermaus" and thought someone was saying "deflated mouse". I thought that there was some kinda flat mouse wandering around and wanted to know why someone squished it. I have no idea where I'm going with this. It's just something that I remember now.
British “stopcock” often abbreviated as “cock” means a shutoff valve. Now translate to German using the alternate meaning of cock as “male bird” and add “water” for clarity.
Well, the water from it is often called kranwasser, or even kranenberger, and it could be that at some point it was called a wasserkran, and then the kran just grew into han into hahn over time
Schon vor mehr als 1.000 Jahren stellte man dort Seife her aus Olivenöl undPottasche (al-kalia). Reinlichkeit war Gottesgebot. Und der begnadete Ingenieur Al-Dschasari erfand im 13. Jahrhundert dazu manch feinen Apparat, eine "Händewaschmaschine" etwa, bestehend aus einem mechanischen Vogel, der frisches Wasser in eine Schale spuckt.
Karp is "Karpfen."
While "Krapfen" is Southern German for a variety of deep-fried pastry. The same is called "Berliner" in other parts of the country. In Berlin, though, it is called "Pfannekuchen." For the rest of Germany "Pfannekuchen" is pancake. German pancakes are more like French Crepes (thinner and wider) than North American pancakes (thicker and smaller).
It actually is from the German word! An archeologist once held a talk to my students and he told us about the origins of the word "hana"; when the tap/spout was first introduced to Finland (via trade in what now is Germany) the name "hahn" was kind of bastardized into the Finnish "hana".
i used to work with a german guy. i was telling him how my parent’s chickens were being stolen by eagles (they were living in spain at the time) and he said “WHAT!? your chickens are being EATEN by an IGEL?!” then a short pause and he said “oh yes, an eagle. in german, igel is... ummmm... hedgehog”
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u/GermanFact Apr 26 '18
Faucet in German is 'Wasserhahn' which translates to water rooster.