68
votes
Accepted
What is the linguistic necessity for the letter 'ß' in German that can't be expressed with 'ss'?
You can't call it a need, since Switzerland dropped ß at the beginning of the 20th century and has, apparently, not yet collapsed.
But ß does have a function. In intervocalic position, there is a ...
- 23.9k
38
votes
What does the word on this Bierstein mean?
It says Prosit. That’s a toast like “Cheers!” or “Bottoms up!”, so it fits the Bierstein. Prosit has its origins in the Latin verb prodesse, which means to serve (a purpose) or to be useful. The ...
- 17.4k
27
votes
Accepted
Need help to read Fraktur from a 18th century book
The sentence is:
Diese beyden letzten Dinge wollen wir indeß bey Seite setzen, um den Fall nicht zu sehr zu verwickeln. Aendert...
Some of the words had a different spelling in that time.
What you ...
- 7,211
26
votes
Accepted
What is the English translation of "Bemerfungen"?
You misread a k for an f. The correct spelling is Bemerkungen: Nachträgliche Bemerkungen = subsequent remarks.
It is written correctly in the form. The Fraktur glyph for the letter k looks similar to ...
- 19.2k
21
votes
What is the linguistic necessity for the letter 'ß' in German that can't be expressed with 'ss'?
Your reference to ſz is somewhat misleading, since this is more a typographical aspect, how ß is represented, in the age of Unicode surely not a problem.
From purely practical point of view, ß is a ...
- 26.4k
20
votes
Accepted
Gothic script in which letters seem to be all mixed up
There is no substitution of letters in the text you posted.
You are looking at writing in a blackletter typeface (German: gebrochene Schrift, lit. broken font) possibly Fraktur. What you believe to ...
- 19.2k
11
votes
Accepted
Does this 18th-century German quotation include a source?
It indeed seems to be a reference. The text reads Ausführliche Behauptung der verbesserten augsp. Confession (1621 4.) S. 311. f. (S. is Seite, page); the modern spelling with the abbreviation ...
- 19.7k
11
votes
Why was Fraktur abolished in Germany?
Es gibt mehrere Theorien über den möglichen Grund des Verbots:
Deutschland wollte zu einer Weltmacht aufsteigen, und seinen Einfluß (kulturell, politisch) in der Welt sichern. Mit Schrifttum, das im ...
- 60.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Doubts about translation from Nosferatu 1922
It's not so easy to translate that phrase for two reasons.
The first difficulty is the word Alp. Usually Alp is translated as nightmare today. You can learn more about the original meaning by ...
- 7,566
8
votes
Accepted
Darf oder soll im Fraktursatz, wenn man neuer Rechtschreibung geschrieben wird, »ſt« getrennt werden?
Offizielle Rechtschreibregeln
Nicht nur der Fraktursatz, sondern auch das lange s werden in den offiziellen Rechtschreibregeln nicht erwähnt, im Gegenteil steht direkt am Anfang des Regelwerks:
...
- 21.7k
7
votes
What does the word on this Bierstein mean?
Proſit
The 4th letter is a »long s«. German used to have three different types of s:
s = »rundes S« (round S)
ß = »scharfes S« (sharp S), also called »Eszett« because it derives froma ligature of ...
- 116k
6
votes
Trenne nie st – warum?
Auf der Website von Fritz Jörn ist folgende plausible Begründung zu finden:
st :: durfte früher nicht getrennt werden, nicht weils eine Fraktur-Ligatur war, sondern weil es in der deutschen ...
- 461
5
votes
Accepted
Translate old german certificate
Ester geb Epstein ledig
in [Ipcźien], Tochter des Simon
und der [Feigel] Epstein
gewesene Schänker in
[Bratocice]
I'm not sure about some of the names and place names, hence they are in square ...
- 4,190
5
votes
I need help reading a Prussian passport from 1851
Based on your obviously imperfect transcript
und werden alle Civil- und Militair-Behoerden Diensten gebenst ansucht denselben mit angefuehrter Begleitung frei und ungehindert reisen
it is close ...
- 30.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Was the “u with breve” of Kurrent- and Sütterlinschrift ever used in print?
Fraktur typefaces dominated printed German from shortly after the invention of movable type until the Nazis abolished it.
Being under the illusion to be some kind of expert¹ on historic letter forms ...
- 21.7k
5
votes
On the use of "Ad" + section number in a work of German philosophy from the early 1700's
Als Nichtlateiner kenne ich nur ganz wenige, lateinische Phrasen, etwa "ad hominem" und darin ist das "ad" keine Abkürzung, wie auch der Screenshot 2 Verwendungen ohne Punkt zeigt, wärend ansonsten an ...
- 23.1k
4
votes
Welche Buchstaben aus gebrochenen Schriften als Aufzählungszeichen in Listen?
Zunächst ein paar Beispiele, die ich auf die Schnelle auftreiben konnte, alle aus Werken, die sich mit Sprache, Schrift u. Ä. befassen, also voraussichtlich mit erhöhter Sorgfalt gesetzt wurden:
...
- 21.7k
4
votes
Darf oder soll im Fraktursatz, wenn man neuer Rechtschreibung geschrieben wird, »ſt« getrennt werden?
Die Schriftart hat keinen Einfluss auf die Trennungsregeln. Ligaturen werden gesetzt, weil sie ästhetitisch ansprechender sind als es die beiden Buchstaben wären, wenn sie direkt aufeinander folgen. ...
- 19.7k
4
votes
Deciphering 1884 cincinnati headstone
Yes, the middle initial looks clearly like the same letter J.
This is what I make of it:
Hier ruhet
Johann J. Englert
geb. 11. Nov. 1826
in Heigenbrücken, Bayern.
gest. 4. April 1884
Friede seiner ...
- 21.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Possible German translation
I read
Plakat aus den Parteikämpfen im Kansasgebiete
which I would translate to
Poster from the party struggles in the Kansas area.
Another translation, suggested by guidot in the comment, is
...
- 15.5k
3
votes
Deciphering 1884 cincinnati headstone
Hier ruhet Johann V. Englert,
geb. 11. Nov 1826
Heigenbrücken Bayern
gest. 4. April 1884
Friede seiner Asche
Eva Englert
geb. 26 (or 20.). Mai 1832
gest. 14. April 1901
The middle initial seems to be ...
- 60.3k
3
votes
Deciphering old handwriting
Side notes:
I'll expand abbreviated words in round brackets ( )
I'll add my own remarks in square brackets [ ] - some details are still missing [...], I'm open to suggestions here :)
left column
...
- 4,190
2
votes
Was the “u with breve” of Kurrent- and Sütterlinschrift ever used in print?
Probably not.
I think there are no signs, that a lot of books used these kinds of typography where the u is based on an imitation of Kurrent/Sütterlin cursive handwriting. There are occurrences like ...
- 14.1k
1
vote
Translate old german certificate
I compile all facts from answer and comments plus some corrections into a community wiki.
Ester geb Epstein XXXX [Ester née Epstein XXXX]
in Jaśien, Tochter des Simon [in Jaśien, daughter of Simon]
...
1
vote
Identify text on a tombstone (Gothic type)
This is the beginning of psalm 68:5
Der ein Vater ist der Waisen und ein Richter der Witwen.
which according to the English Standard Version of the Bible translates to
Father of the fatherless ...
- 2,482
1
vote
On the use of "Ad" + section number in a work of German philosophy from the early 1700's
Latin ad (or German zu, zu[m] Punkt) is used similar to re (bezüglich = bzgl., in Sachen / in der Sache/Angelegenheit) – as popularized by email subject lines – in sophisticated German. The former is ...
- 9,111
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