Hello and welcome to another post on untranslatable German words, where I bring you the quirkiest, funniest and most intelligent words that the German language has to offer – and ones that are difficult to find a translation for!

Today’s word is mutterseelenallein.

What does mutterseelenallein mean?

To be mutterseelenallein describes an extreme kind of loneliness, far worse than simply being allein (alone).

What is the literal translation of mutterseelenallein?

Mutterseelenallein is made up of three separate words. The first is die Mutter (mother), the second is die Seelen (souls), and the third is allein (alone). The literal translation, therefore, is ‘mother souls alone’.

What does this mean, exactly? Well, as mentioned above, to be mutterseelenallein is to be in a state of extreme loneliness. The kind of loneliness that feels as though even your own mother has abandoned you, that there is no one in the world who you can turn to.

It is said that this word originated in the 17^th/18^th century, when many French Protestants arrived in Berlin. There was a common French phrase at the time, ‘moi tout seul’ – ‘me all alone’ in English, and ‘ich ganz allein’ in German. It was used so much, in fact, that the Berliners adopted it, modifying it first to ‘moi tout seul allein’ and then to the similar-sounding, German ‘mutterseelenallein’.

How would you use mutterseelenallein in a sentence?

You can use it in the same way you would use the regular word for alone (allein).
Ich bin allein – I am alone.
Ich bin mutterseelenallein – I am desperately/completely alone.

I read Grimms Märchen (Grimm Fairytales) recently and came across the word mutterseelenallein in use in the story Schneewittchen (Snow White).

From Grimms Märchen by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Own photo.

‘And so the poor child was mutterseelenallein in the huge forest, and was so scared that it looked at all the leaves on the trees and did not know what to do.’

What is the nearest English equivalent to mutterseelenallein?

Quite frankly, there isn’t one that even comes close! If there is a particular phrase or word that you use to describe this feeling, leave a comment and let us know. Let’s find a word for mutterseelenallein in English. 😉

Schönes Wochenende!

Constanze x

PS. If you like these untranslatable words, why not try my quiz on them?