Felix ist der beste Gitarrist unter der Sonne.
I wonder if "unter der Sonne" can be coupled with "der beste ..." as a figurative expression with the meaning of "the best there is in the world"?
German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this communityFelix ist der beste Gitarrist unter der Sonne.
I wonder if "unter der Sonne" can be coupled with "der beste ..." as a figurative expression with the meaning of "the best there is in the world"?
In my opinion, you can use der/die/das beste unter der Sonne
as a sentence most people will understand in German, although it sounds a bit antiquated is lyrical/metaphorical (thanks to @hiergiltdiestfu and @jonathan.scholbach from the comments and therefore sounds a bit artificial.
The phrase unter der Sonne
as a synonym to auf der Welt
originates from the Bible (in Prediger 1,9). It is used to say that nothing special is going on: Nichts los unter der Sonne
.
You could rephrase your sentence to
Felix ist der weltweit beste Gitarrist.
or to
Felix ist der weltbeste Gitarrist.
The meaning stays the same (the best in the world), but these two are commonly used, yours rarely and mostly in poetic context.
The contribution of @Christian Geiselmann (comment below) is the standard version, just didn't think of it.
We replace the sun by the moon¹
Besides »unter der Sonne« the latin »sub luna« (under the moon) is found occasionally, e. g.
Sub luna nichts Neues
referring to
Nihil novi sub luna
(There is nothing new under the moon)
»Sub luna nichts Neues« or »nichts Neues unter der Sonne« can either be a saying for »aktuell gibt es keine Neuigkeiten« or for »alles schon mal dagewesen«. This last one may be a comment on a presidents uninspired New Year speech containing nothing but the hackneyed phrases of his predecessors.
¹Sounds like a message from hostile ETs