{"id":11171,"date":"2019-10-25T17:05:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T17:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=11171"},"modified":"2019-10-25T17:05:30","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T17:05:30","slug":"the-curiosity-of-the-german-word-geist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-curiosity-of-the-german-word-geist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Curiosity of the German Word “Geist”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In\u00a0Spuktober\u00a0<\/em>(Spooktober – we don’t actually say that in Germany, but I guess I’ll go with it anyway), you hear all kinds of Halloween-related words. Also in Germany!<\/a> Yet there is one specific word in Germany that is kind of curious – let’s have a closer look at the word\u00a0Geist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Click here for previous entries in the series on curious words in German<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What does it mean?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Image by Toa Heftiba at Unsplash.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Geist\u00a0<\/em>means “ghost”. Quite simple. But have you heard of Poltergeist<\/em>? Or\u00a0Qu\u00e4lgeist<\/em>? What about\u00a0Zeitgeist<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Geist\u00a0<\/em>as an ending is quite common, and refers more to the spirit of something. So,\u00a0Zeitgeist\u00a0<\/em>is something like “the spirit of time” and Poltergeist <\/em>“noisy ghost\/spirit”. But\u00a0a word like Plagegeist <\/em>(“plague ghost”) or Qu\u00e4lgeist<\/em> (“pesky ghost”).<\/p>\n

The Geist\u00a0<\/em>is also the mind. Die Geisteswisschenschaften\u00a0<\/em>are “the spirit sciences” – the humanities. “The body and the mind” is translated in German to der K\u00f6rper und der Geist<\/em>. The menschlicher <\/em>Geist <\/em>is also about human ingenuity and\u00a0Verstand\u00a0<\/em>(reason).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a\u00a0Geistlicher\u00a0<\/em>is a\u00a0“clergyman” or “cleric”. Basically people in positions in religious organizations are\u00a0Geistlicher. G<\/em>eistlicher Vater\u00a0<\/em>(spiritual father) is sometimes used as a reference to God or to a priest or other spiritual messenger.<\/p>\n

Finally, a Geist\u00a0<\/em>can also be a strong alcoholic beverage. The English\u00a0spirit<\/em>, as in “strong alcoholic beverage”, is translated in German to\u00a0Spirituose<\/em>. The German Spirituose<\/em> “Asbach Uralt” <\/em>even has this in their byline:\u00a0Der Geist des Weines <\/em>(“the spirit of the wine”).\u00a0Spiritus\u00a0<\/em>does exist as a word, too, but it refers to the pure alcohol not intended for consumption, but for certain lights, for example.<\/p>\n

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Asbach Uralt<\/em> – See the byline in red on the bottle: Der Geist des Weines<\/em> (Image by Algont at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 3.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

So\u00a0Geist\u00a0<\/em>acquired lots of meanings over the centuries, going way beyond just ghosts and spirits.<\/p>\n

How did\u00a0Geist\u00a0<\/em>get all these meanings?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Image by WizardOfGoth at Flickr.com under license CC BY SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Geist\u00a0<\/em>shares the same\u00a0Wurzel\u00a0<\/em>(root) as the English\u00a0ghost\u00a0<\/em>– the Germanic\u00a0gheis\u00a0<\/em>means\u00a0something like\u00a0erschrecken\u00a0<\/em>(to scare). Obviously, the “ghost” meanings come from this, as in Geist <\/em>and\u00a0Poltergeist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The other meanings of the word, where the spirit and the mind is more the focus, come from the other original meaning Erregung, Ergriffenheit <\/em>(excitement, emotion). While the word was later influenced by the Latin spiritus\u00a0<\/em>(where the English “spirit” comes from) and the French\u00a0esprit\u00a0<\/em>(in German, there is the Latin-derived\u00a0Spiritus Sanctus\u00a0<\/em>(Holy Spirit) or Heiliger Geist<\/em>), the German word was able to sich durchsetzen\u00a0<\/em>(establish itself) for all these meanings.<\/p>\n

And there you have it!\u00a0Geist<\/em> – a word with curiously many, diverging meanings.<\/p>\n

How do you say Geist <\/i>in your country? Does it have as many meanings as in Germany? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

In\u00a0Spuktober\u00a0(Spooktober – we don’t actually say that in Germany, but I guess I’ll go with it anyway), you hear all kinds of Halloween-related words. Also in Germany! Yet there is one specific word in Germany that is kind of curious – let’s have a closer look at the word\u00a0Geist. Click here for previous entries in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":11179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[503854,3213],"class_list":["post-11171","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","tag-curious-words","tag-halloween"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t