Questions tagged [archaism]

relating to words that are no longer in use, especially, out of use for at least the past century.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
2 votes
3 answers
108 views

What is the meaning of "Gift und Dolch" (in Mozart's Opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail)

Osmin, one of the characters in this Opera said this phrase multiple times. Gift und Dolch For example in here OSMIN Gift und Dolch! was ist das? wer kann ins Haus steigen? Another example in here: ...
xing's user avatar
  • 45
2 votes
3 answers
392 views

What is the meaning of "vor den Teufel" in this sentence "Mag ich vor den Teufel nicht" in an Opera?

I'm recently trying to understand the lyrics of the Opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" by Mozart. In Act 1, Osmin's Aria "Solche hergelaufne Laffen" (one example text and ...
xing's user avatar
  • 45
3 votes
2 answers
632 views

Meaning of "auf" in the following context

Came across this sentence in a Mozart libretto and was curious what the meaning of "auf" is here. Auf den Rat, den ich gegeben, Sei, mein Kind, mit Fleiss bedacht. Google Translate ...
John's user avatar
  • 33
1 vote
1 answer
78 views

Verwendung von Ausdrücken mit "ergreifen"

Das Wort ergreifen wird unter anderem in Ausdrücken wie "Initiative ergreifen", "einen Beruf ergreifen" usw. verwendet. Benutzt man immer noch solche Ausdrücke? Duden und DWDS ...
aldin's user avatar
  • 315
19 votes
7 answers
4k views

Why is "bleiben" conjugated as "bleibet" in the Bach choral "Jesus bleibet meine Freude"?

My German is very basic (at best) but I sometimes have to write little blurbs about music and sometimes the music I write about is German. Since it's getting close to Christmas, I needed to write ...
rici's user avatar
  • 293
4 votes
2 answers
301 views

How should I translate archaic English verb conjugations such as "thou art" into German?

I am working on an English to German translation project -- the text of a fantasy video game -- where some of the original English includes phrases like "thou art" and "the battle hath ...
odduse_of_language's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
151 views

What is the origin of "sich überbeten" in Yiddish?

In Yiddish, "sich überbeten" means "sich versöhnen". Does anyone know of a similar usage in (possibly archaic) German or in dialect?
fred goodman's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
487 views

Is "sich wie ein Schneekönig freuen" -- "as happy as a wren" commonly used?

This phrase appears in the DWDS entry for freuen. It refers to a fable, repeated in both the English and German Wikipedias, where the wren becomes king of the birds. Is the phrase still used now or is ...
RDBury's user avatar
  • 10.7k
0 votes
1 answer
430 views

Unterschied zwischen Wirbel und Strudel [closed]

Vor einigen Tagen bekamen wir einen Lesetext, in dem über Müllstrudel im Meer aufgeklärt wurde. Aber eine hat Wirbel als Ersatzwort vorgeschlagen. Ich will den Unterschied zwischen Wirbel und Strudel ...
Ryka's user avatar
  • 11
9 votes
2 answers
565 views

What was the meaning of adverb "üben"?

I don't mean "üben" as in "exercise". I mean "üben" as in da drüben. I suppose, for the contraction drüben made from darüben to appear, there should have existed a word üben. If so, what was it's ...
mz71's user avatar
  • 447
6 votes
1 answer
164 views

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "arretieren" und "verhaften"?

Was ist der Unterschied zwischen "arretieren" und "verhaften"? Im unten angeführten Verzeichnis politisch unverlässlicher Personen (Dezember 1913, verm. von Österreich-Ungarn besetzter Teil der West-...
Glory to Russia's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Can "ekrasieren" be translated as "to exterminate"?

In this answer there is following German text: Diese müßten ekrasiert und hiezu kein Mittel gescheut werden. Can "ekrasieren" be translated as "to exterminate"? I could not find this word in ...
user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
350 views

About the word "hernach"

Immanuel Kant uses hernach quite a lot in his writings. However, here the word is said to be used only regionally; but I doubt that Kant would have used such words in his works. Is it perhaps an ...
ΥΣΕΡ26328's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
912 views

Ausgestorbene Wörter im österreichischen (Standard-)Deutsch

Gibt es irgendeine Liste dazu? Ich kenne nur Werke/Websites entweder zu ausgestorbenen Wörtern im bundesdeutschen Deutsch oder zum heutigen österreichischen Deutsch. Ich habe gerade mal schnell ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
204 views

Nachweis und Bedeutung von »wederer«

Online wurde bei einer Übersetzungseite (Englisch → Deutsch) das Wort wederer gesehen. whether {conj} [obs.] [which of two] → wederer [veraltet] [welcher von zweien auch immer] Gibt es in ...
mnemonic's user avatar
  • 231
4 votes
2 answers
915 views

Wann wurde das/der/die meinige veraltet?

Die meinige Frau kocht ein philippinisches Essen. In welchem Jahre wurde dieses Fürwort veraltet?
DerPolyglott33's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
459 views

Translation for "methinks"

How would one say "methinks" in German? An example being, "Methinks he has changed the locks!" or "She is unwell, methinks" Google translate suggests "michdünkt". Would "es scheint mir" be better?
MattyBeales's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
672 views

Was bedeutet 'Giftgeber' auf Deutsch, falls überhaupt?

Ich dachte, dass "Giftgeber" im Englischen Poison-giver bedeuten soll. Aber hier sagt eine Seite dass es wirklich gift-giver (Geschenkausteiler) bedeutet. Wie ist das möglich, wenn jeder Eintrag unter ...
Anurag Kalia's user avatar
  • 1,549
11 votes
4 answers
11k views

Difference between "Jägermeister" and "Waidmann"

I learned a new German word today, Waidmann, but I already knew the word Jägermeister, so I wondered what the difference between them is. When would a German use one over the other?
TecBrat's user avatar
  • 645
14 votes
3 answers
2k views

Meaning of Mann as a tribe rather than a male individual

Everybody understands the substantive Mann as designating a male human individual. Some people might also be aware of the kinship between Mann and the verb to command, which crops up for instance in ...
Alain Pannetier's user avatar