{"id":12140,"date":"2021-02-25T13:41:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T13:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12140"},"modified":"2021-02-25T13:41:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T13:41:40","slug":"untranslatable-german-words-mahlzeit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/untranslatable-german-words-mahlzeit\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable German Words: Mahlzeit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another dip in the toe of the deep pond of untranslatable German words. We’ve discussed plenty already<\/a>, and you probably won’t hear many of them on a daily basis, unfortunately. The word that we look at today, however, is different. Here’s the story of how an innocent word became a word that many Germans use every single day:\u00a0Mahlzeit!<\/em><\/p>\n

Mahlzeit <\/em>– Meal time?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Mahlzeit\"<\/a>

A classic German Mittagessen<\/em> – eine Kartoffelsuppe<\/em> (potato soup)! (Image by RitaE at Pixabay.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

Literally,\u00a0die Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>means “the meal time<\/strong>“. The noun itself isn’t untranslatable, it simply means “meal<\/strong>“. But\u00a0Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>has another meaning, one that these days is probably more common as\u00a0die Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>is more and more pushed away by\u00a0das Essen\u00a0<\/em>(the food, the meal): as a\u00a0Gru\u00dfformel\u00a0<\/em>(salutation)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Especially in the west of Germany as well as in Austria,\u00a0Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>is often used to say hello, especially around\u00a0the\u00a0Mittagszeit\u00a0<\/em>(noon, lunchtime)!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The classic example is workers sitting together in the Pausenraum\u00a0<\/em>(break room) having their\u00a0Mittagessen\u00a0<\/em>(lunch) who are greeted by their colleague who just entered. Here,\u00a0Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>says hello in a short way and wishes everybody a good\u00a0Mahlzeit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But you can also simply use it as a greeting when people aren’t having food.<\/p>\n

Let’s say you enter the Apotheke\u00a0<\/em>(pharmacy) around 13:00 Uhr\u00a0<\/em>(1 pm), you could greet the staff with\u00a0Mahlzeit!\u00a0<\/em>If you’ve been there before, that is. It’s not something you’d say if you’re not somehow on a personal level with those you’re greeting.<\/p>\n

This is especially widespread in the north of Germany. To be honest though, I’ve heard it all over Germany, so people will generally know it. You won’t get strange looks from people when saying it.<\/p>\n

However, it is true that the Gru\u00dfformel <\/em>is most common in the work environment. It is quite umgangssprachlich\u00a0<\/em>(colloquial), so if you are in a formal setting, it’s not the way to go.\u00a0Guten Mittag\u00a0<\/em>(good afternoon) is a better one, for example<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Switzerland, you won’t hear\u00a0Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>as a greeting. But they have a similar greeting: En Guete!\u00a0<\/em>which means as much as\u00a0Guten Appetit\u00a0<\/em>(enjoy your meal). It even looks a bit like the English “have a good one!”<\/p>\n

Where does this meaning of Mahlzeit <\/em>come from?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Mahlzeit_Dictionary_Grimm\"<\/a>

The first part of the 1854 Grimm dictionary of the German language (Image public domain, at Commons.wikimedia.org)<\/p><\/div>\n

Mahlzeit\u00a0<\/em>is a\u00a0Kurzform\u00a0<\/em>(shorthand) of\u00a0the\u00a0Gru\u00dfformel “Gesegnete Mahlzeit!” <\/em>(blessed meal!), however the\u00a0Kurzform\u00a0<\/em>as we know it today has already been around since the 19th century. The\u00a0Br\u00fcder Grimm <\/em>(Grimm brothers)<\/a> noted it already in their\u00a0W\u00f6rterbuch<\/em>, which was published in 1854.<\/p>\n

Have you heard this\u00a0Gru\u00df\u00a0<\/em>before? Have you used it? How’s been your experience? Do you have a similar greeting in your language? Do you know of a translation that would properly translate Mahlzeit<\/em>? I want to know, so please tell me in the comments below!<\/strong><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Welcome to another dip in the toe of the deep pond of untranslatable German words. We’ve discussed plenty already, and you probably won’t hear many of them on a daily basis, unfortunately. The word that we look at today, however, is different. Here’s the story of how an innocent word became a word that many…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":12700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,8,913],"tags":[337679],"class_list":["post-12140","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-language","category-traditions","tag-untranslatable-german"],"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