Wortschatz is a “word treasure”!

Recently I happened to stumble across my copy of the book »Das schönste deutsche Wort«, first published back in 2005. That book was the result of a 2004 contest that encouraged people all across the German-speaking world – and internationally, not just in Germany and Europe – to select the German word they consider the “most beautiful” and to express their reasons for choosing that word.

A German Scrabble board. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons (German)

Of course there is no single “most beautiful German word.” Despite the fact that a top winning word was chosen, that was not the primary goal of the contest. Everyone has their own choice or choices for that honor. That is why the book title is in quotation marks. The contest was aimed more at demonstrating just how rich the German language is, and to encourage people to look at and hear German words in a fresh new way. Each contributor chose their own most beautiful word. The friendly competition produced thousands of German words chosen and defended by thousands of people all over the world. Indeed, the contest helped prove just how rich, varied, and interesting German vocabulary is. The German word for “vocabulary,” Wortschatz, translates literally as “word treasure” in English.

Mark Twain and “The Awful German Language”
Mark Twain seemed to have it in for the German language. While amusing, his essay titled “The Awful German Language” really says more about Samuel Clemens than about the German language. Twain’s battles with mastering the language of “poets and thinkers” (Dichter und Denker) are understandable but exaggerated to extremes in amusing Mark Twain style. Samuel Clemens did travel in Germany and Europe, and truly knew of what he spoke (or tried to). But German-language-bashing is far too easy and a rather cheap shot. Those who speak German or who have learned to speak it know that it is far more beautiful than most people think.

The Contest
From 4 May to 1 August 2004, the Deutscher Sprachrat (German Language Council) sponsored a contest that encouraged people all across the German-speaking world to select what they consider to be the “most beautiful German word” and to justify their choice. The result was about 12,000 German words submitted by about the same number of participants, aged 11 to 98, from all across the globe. Besides Germany, entries poured in from many countries – from France, Thailand, Spain, the UK, Russia, Japan, the USA, Kenya, South Korea, Austria, Italy, New Zealand, and other nations. About 25 percent of the entries came from outside of Germany.

While most of the entries came from average people, a few were contributed by notable personalities in Germany, including the American-born entertainer and author in Germany Gayle Tufts and the German humorist Loriot (Vicco von Bülow, 1923-2011). Other contributors were university students, fashion designers, politicians, government officials, and young children.

Favorite German words were chosen for many reasons: their sound, their look, their emotional resonance, their imagery, their meaning(s), and their building-block elements. Some words were chosen by several different people and listed with the varying explanations for choosing them. “Liebe” (love) was the most popular word, followed by “Heimat” (homeland, hometown) and “Glück” (luck, happiness). But nouns weren’t the only words submitted. Verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, and many other grammatical forms were in the mix.

Out of the thousands of suggestions the Council selected the German words they felt were most deserving or that had the best reasons for being a “most beautiful word.” The resulting 157-page book included those words the contest judges selected, numbering a bit under 160 words. Many of the words are everyday, common words, while a few are more rare. I myself learned a few new German words, or was reminded of them in the process of reading the book and writing this blog post. I also gained a new appreciation of the depth and beauty of the German language. And the word chosen as the winning »schönstes deutsches Wort« happens to be one of my own favorites. See below for that special German word.

Sample Words from the Book
Words are listed in random order, similar to the way they appear in the book. Not all words listed in the book are found here. The 14 words listed below are just a small sample. In some cases I have added related German words not found in the book. The explanations below are edited/shortened English translations of the original German explanations. See our links to related books below.

• Hauch (der) | breath; smell, waft; hint, touch – “Because it’s nothing more than a soft, small suggestion of a positive idea. The word embodies a utopia, a picture of something that is not yet there, a hint of better things to come.”
• doch | yes; on the contrary; nevertheless, still; after all – 1. “Because in its soft, subtle manner it is very effective in the way it works. It negates what was said before, but remains positive.” – 2. “Because this short word reflects an entire philosophy. It’s not a simple “yes” but rather expresses that a “no” has been overcome, or needs to be overcome, and it has many faces. Often doch sneaks in as a filler word, seemingly harmless, but amazingly strong.”
• Luftikus (der) | careless and unreliable guy; airhead, flake; happy-go-lucky fellow – “Because, just by its rhythm and sound alone, the word precisely conveys the floating, airy lightness that makes it seem almost impossible to be able to escape the level of superficiality for deeper realms.”
• Zeitlupe (die) | slow motion, slo-mo (film); lit., “time magnifying glass” – 1. “Because it describes a wonderful possibility that only exists in cinema, namely to slow time down in order to ‘put it under a magnifying glass’ (unter die Lupe nehmen). Compared to ‘slow motion’ in English, the German word expresses the concept more precisely and beautifully.”
• Zeitraffer (der) | time-lapse (film); lit., “time shortener” – The opposite of “Zeitlupe” (not in the book)
• Streicheleinheiten (pl.) | tenderness, tender loving care; words of praise; lit., “petting units” – 1. “The word suggests that something as nice as an act of tenderness can be measured or weighed, as in ‘I’d like 42 grams of tenderness’ – or perhaps better ‘3 cubic meters of tenderness.'” – 2. “Because it expresses something very pleasant, loving, and personal. At the same time it is typical German systematic, measurable approach.” – Also the title of a 1982 hit song by Peter Cornelius: Hear it on YouTube.
• eh | anyway (= sowieso); before, in the past (short for ehe, usually in the phrase “seit eh und je” = since year one) – The shortest word chosen, “eh” was selected for the surprising power it has as a minuscule word. More common in southern Germany and in Austria, it replaces sowieso or doch, as in: “Das ist eh klar!” (It’s obvious!), or “Wir brauchen auf ihn nicht zu warten, er kommt eh nicht.” (We don’t need to wait for him. He’s not coming anyway.)
• nichtsdestotrotz | nevertheless, nonetheless – “Because it has the ability to transform arguments and positions. Usually the word is used to try to turn a negative situation into something positive. It brings forth an unsuspected side of a message… It is more expressive than the equivalent “nevertheless” in English.”
• Fernweh (das) | wanderlust; lit., “distance pain/longing” – 1. “Because it expresses the pain that one sometimes feels, and for which there is no Spanish word – to simply get away and as far away (“fern”) as possible.” – 2. “‘Fernweh’ expresses in a single word the ambivalence of being German. The Germans, the world champions of vacationing, who often seek their identity in escape and being far away, have invented a word that sounds as much like pain as it does hope.”
• Heimweh (das) | home sickness; lit., “home pain/longing” – The opposite of “Fernweh” (not in the book)
• Habseligkeiten* (pl.) | (personal) belongings, possessions, effects – “The word doesn’t describe what a person owns or their assets, but their belongings, and it does this with a friendly, sympathetic undertone that leaves us feeling that the owner of these things is likable and endearing. – From a lexical point of view the word combines two realms of our life that couldn’t be more opposite: the very worldly possessions, i.e. worldly goods, and the highest, unobtainable human goal in our earthly life of striving for happiness: bliss (die Seligkeit, which can also mean [religious] salvation or state of blessedness).” *This word was deemed the “most beautiful German word.”
• Hab und Gut (das) | worldly goods; belongings, possessions – An expression similar to “Habseligkeiten”
• Kichererbse (die) | chickpea; lit., “giggle pea” – “Because it’s just so funny when you think about what it really means. Since when can peas giggle?”
• geistesgegenwärtig | (adv.) with great presence of mind, (adj.) quick-witted – “Chosen for its meaning and its imagery (Wortmalerei, “word painting”), as well as its sound, with its “g” alliteration (both hard and soft). It combines two already strong words (Geist + Gegenwart) to form a new, even stronger word.”

What is your own choice for the most beautiful German word? Even if you can’t decide on just one, it’s fun and interesting to think about this topic for yourself. Yes, German can be beautiful!

– HF

Related Books
“Das schönste deutsche Wort” has been a theme since a book of that title was first published in 2005. The following books are related to that topic. NOTE: Most books ordered from Amazon.de (Amazon Germany), even Kindle books, can’t be shipped or downloaded to Canada or the USA. See the links below for Amazon.com if you are ordering a book to be shipped to North America.
Das schönste deutsche Wort by Jutta Limbach (paperback, Amazon.de), Herder spektrum, 2006.
This is the paperback edition of the original hardcover book that we used for this post. Amazon.de: “Welches ist das schönste deutsche Wort? fragte der deutsche Sprachrat. Und wurde von tausenden Einsendungen aus 111 Ländern überschwemmt. In diesem Lesebuch werden die allerschönsten vorgestellt – samt ihrer skurrilen, poetischen, herzerwärmenden, originellen Begründungen. Es geht nicht nur um Auslegware und andere Habselig­keiten. Sondern auch um die Poesie der Pampelmusen, den Zauber der Zweisamkeit und die Komik der Kichererbse.”
The book above from Amazon.com: Das schönste deutsche Wort (German Edition) by Jutta Limbach (paperback, Amazon.com), Herder spektrum, 2006

Schöne Wörter: Die schönsten Wörter der deutschen Sprache (German Edition) – Book 1 of 4 – Kindle Edition, paper, hardcover – 4-book series by Lenny Löwenstern

Schöne Wörter 2: Die schönsten Wörter der deutschen Sprache (German Edition) Book 2 of 4 – Kindle Edition, paper, hardcover – 4-book series by Lenny Löwenstern

Related Books from Amazon.com:
Das schönste deutsche Wort (German Edition) by Jutta Limbach (paperback), Herder spektrum, 2006
This is the paperback edition of the original hardcover book that we used for this post. See the full description in German above.

Schöne Wörter: Die schönsten Wörter der deutschen Sprache (German Edition) – Book 1 of 4 – Kindle Edition – 4-book series by Lenny Löwenstern

Schöne Wörter 2: Die schönsten Wörter der deutschen Sprache (German Edition) Book 2 of 4 – Kindle Edition – 4-book series by Lenny Löwenstern