{"id":13335,"date":"2021-09-13T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=13335"},"modified":"2021-09-12T23:17:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-12T23:17:45","slug":"a-german-greeting-from-the-heart-moin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/a-german-greeting-from-the-heart-moin\/","title":{"rendered":"A German Greeting From the Heart: Moin!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We recently covered the curious greeting from Hamburg\u00a0Hummel, Hummel – mors, mors!<\/em><\/a> But today, we’ll look into one that is perhaps less curious, but it is a lot more popular:\u00a0Moin!<\/em> or sometimes also\u00a0Moin, moin!<\/em> What does this word mean, where does it come from, where will you hear it?<\/p>\n

What does\u00a0moin\u00a0<\/em>mean?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"moin<\/a>

Photo by Octavian Dan<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

German knows many greetings<\/a>, and many have their own interesting origin story.\u00a0Moin\u00a0<\/em>simply means “hello”, and it is used mostly informally, but it wouldn’t be weird to hear it in more formal settings, too. It is that widespread!<\/p>\n

But not all over Germany. If you hear\u00a0moin<\/em>, just like\u00a0servus\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Gr\u00fc\u00df Gott<\/em>, you know you’re in a certain part of Germany.\u00a0Moin\u00a0<\/em>is common where I’m from, the northwest of Germany. From\u00a0Niedersachsen<\/em> (Lower Saxony)<\/a> to\u00a0Schleswig-Holstein\u00a0<\/em>to the western part of\u00a0Mecklenburg-Vorpommern\u00a0<\/em>(Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania). It is mostly understood as a greeting, similar to\u00a0Guten Tag<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0Hallo<\/em><\/strong>, but not so much as an\u00a0Abschied\u00a0<\/em>(m, farewell). Then you still just say Auf Wiedersehen<\/em>, bis dann, tsch\u00fcss<\/em>, etcetera. In any case, if you enter northern Germany, feel free to greet people with Moin<\/em>!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Duden<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>also says<\/a> that\u00a0moin\u00a0<\/em>is a\u00a0\u00fcberregionale Gru\u00dfformal\u00a0<\/em>(supraregional greeting), though I have yet to hear it outside of the north. But I’m sure that people in other parts of Germany will recognize it as a greeting! At the same time, of course, this doesn’t mean that Northerners won’t understand other greetings. A Guten Tag\u00a0<\/em>will always do the trick. But if you start with a\u00a0Gr\u00fc\u00df Gott<\/em>, they might look at you weird and tell you:\u00a0Hier im Norden sagen wir moin!\u00a0<\/em>(Here in the north, we say\u00a0moin<\/em>!)<\/p>\n

The beauty of it, though? You can say\u00a0moin<\/em> with the same warmth as\u00a0Guten Tag<\/em>, but all day and night! So at dinner, you can tell the waiter\u00a0moin.\u00a0<\/em>When you arrive at the\u00a0Disko\u00a0<\/em>(f, disco), you can tell the T\u00fcrsteher <\/em>(m, bouncer) moin<\/em>. And when you order the early morning\u00a0Kebab<\/em><\/a> after, you can tell the owner\u00a0moin<\/em>, as well!<\/p>\n

You might also hear it used twice:\u00a0Moin, moin!<\/em> While to me, that’s identical to a single\u00a0moin<\/em>, Hamburgers apparently disagree.<\/a> Another variation you hear now and then is\u00a0moinsen<\/em>. They all mean the same.<\/p>\n

Where does the word\u00a0moin\u00a0<\/em>come from?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"moin<\/a>

Ostfriesland, in the north of Germany. (Photo by Hanna Schwichtenberg<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The origin of the word is – surprise, surprise – in one of the dialects that’s spoken in the area:\u00a0Plattdeutsch\u00a0<\/em>(“Flat” German)<\/a><\/strong>.1<\/a><\/sup>Though the Duden also lists\u00a0Ostfriesisch (East Frisian) and Mittelniederdeutsch (Middle Lower German) as origins.<\/span>\u00a0Moin\u00a0<\/em>is derived from the\u00a0Plattdeutsch\u00a0<\/em>word\u00a0moi<\/em><\/strong>, which means\u00a0angenehm, gut, sch\u00f6n\u00a0<\/em>(comfortable, good, wonderful)<\/strong>. That explains the warmth that comes from this greeting!<\/p>\n

Have you heard about\u00a0moin<\/em> before? Have you used it? Are there other greetings you’ve heard and are curious about? Let me know in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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