This is a list of pseudo-German words adopted from German and adapted in such a way into English that their original meanings are no longer readily recognised by indigenous German speakers due to the new circumstances in which they were being used in English:
- Blitz — ("The Blitz") the sustained attack by the German Luftwaffe from 1940 to 1941 which began after the Battle of Britain. It was adapted from "Blitzkrieg" (literally "lightning war", meaning sudden, quick war), the sudden and overwhelming attack on many smaller European countries and their defeat by the Wehrmacht. "Blitz" (German for "bolt of lightning") has never been used in actual German in its aerial-war aspect and became an entirely new usage in English during World War II. The word has also been adopted by American football to describe a defensive play when linebackers and/or defensive backs move close to the line of scrimmage in an attempt to overwhelm the quarterback. Also Blitz chess is a game of chess where each side is given very little time to make all of their moves.[1]
- stein or beer stein —– usually refers to a decorative beer mug made out of a non-transparent material; the term is derived from German Steinzeug "stoneware", a material that went out of fashion for beer mugs already at the end of the 19. century, and has since been replaced by glass for hygienic reasons. Stein just means "stone" in German, where beer mugs are called Bierkrug (or Maßkrug or Maß for a one-liter mug).
- (to) strafe — in its sense of "to machine-gun troop assemblies and columns from the air", became a new adaptation during World War I, of the German word strafen — to punish. In recent years "strafe" has referred specifically to the horizontal yawing motion of an airplane raking an area with machine-gun fire, and is now also used to mean "to move sideways while looking forward", so that many first-person shooter computer games have "strafe" keys.[citation needed]
- Mox Nix — from German idiom "macht nichts". Often used by U.S. servicemen to mean "whatever" or "it doesn't matter".[2]
- zaftig (zoftig) — plump, rounded, full-breasted or full-figured. This is from the German saftig, meaning 'juicy', and was probably introduced into English via Yiddish.
International words which have come down to their present-day languages via various other languages
An example in Russian is "парикмахер" (parikmakher), a barber or hairdresser. This derives from the German Perück(en)macher (equivalent to (peri) wig maker or peruke maker in English), derived in turn from the Italian parrucca, via the French perruque. Thus a wig-maker of centuries ago has been changed to a hairdresser in a modern language.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ http://blog.chess.com/Quixotical/my-tips-on-blitz-chess-part-one The meaning of Blitz chess
- ^ The Word Detective, word-detective.com, 7 June 2007, http://www.word-detective.com/060704.html, retrieved 25 December 2007[unreliable source?]
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