Love those German words. This one means: "coming to terms with the past." Here is the article where I found it.

I do realize that we don't need one word for every thought (which this is), but do we have anything like it?

Portmanteau words

Vergangenheit: past (vergehen to pass)
Bewältigung: coping (bewältigen to cope)

Yes, one could say German is the language of Portmanteau words. Still, I think it takes creativity to come up with the phrase that the words define, such as "taking joy in another's misfortune.."

A portmanteau is a blend, like "frumious" from "furious" and "fuming". I'd say German is good at making compound words... but so is English.

Not as good as German.

Is frumious a word?

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Not as good as German.

I disagree. English is great at creating compound words on the fly. You could say that English is an on the fly compound creating language.
Right now I am looking at a subway ad for a “real estate bitcoin wealth expo”.

Titles and headlines are a good source of compounds:
baby name inspiration
https://closeronline.co.uk/fam...name-baby-girl-name/

sex abuse allegation
https://www.seattletimes.com/s...ex-abuse-allegation/

Saskatoon police homicide investigations
https://globalnews.ca/news/408...ns-saskatoon-police/

sex trafficking bill advocates
https://www.bloomberg.com/news...ocates-ahead-of-vote

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

To anticipate a complaint: yes these words have spaces and German compounds do not. But that is a comment on the spelling, not the grammar of the words.

Another difference is that German compounds sometimes include inflections - Vergangenheitsbewältigung contains a genitive -s so the structure is (I think):
Vergangenheit “past”
s genitive marker (so Vergangenheits is “of the past”)
Bewältigung “coping”

English compounds do not require this sort of internal inflection.

May not be quite on point but here is a nice piece on orthography BobHale may not want to watch since I don't think he likes the presenter.

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
May not be quite on point but here is a nice piece on orthography

“The lack of punctuation and spacing in alphabetic writing made comprehension very difficult”
Citation needed

quote:

The lack of punctuation and spacing in alphabetic writing made comprehension very difficult”
Citation needed

The common sense that included the necessity for punctuation. If comprehension was so easy, where was the eed?

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:

The common sense that included the necessity for punctuation. If comprehension was so easy, where was the eed?

That does make sense, but it doesn’t explain everything. First of all the guy makes specific claims: he says that comprehension was very difficult and no one could understand something the first time they read it. How does he know?

Second, the original point of punctuation in Greek wasn’t for comprehension, it was to tell the reader when to pause when reading aloud (as I understand it).

Also, writing has always had punctuation as far as I know. Even before the Greeks developed the punctuation this guy discusses, there was punctuation. It was sparse but it was there.

And why does a language like Thai still have no spaces between words and very little punctuation?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

Here’s his actual specific claims I was thinking of: “understanding what a particular word was actually saying on the first read through was pretty well unheard of at the time” and “in ancient Greece it was a rare feat for an individual to understand a text that they were reading the first time through”

Wow, I did not know that. I wonder if it limited an interest in reading.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Wow, I did not know that. I wonder if it limited an interest in reading.

I’m not sure it’s true!

Another German word I heard today at a medical conference: Vorsorgeprinzip. It means a precautionary principle. “Vorsorge” means “forecaring” when making a diagnosis. Being careful; not being satisficing as in another post.

provision, prevention, precaution, preparedness

vor is cognate with fore and sorge is cognate with sorrow

This message has been edited. Last edited by: goofy,

I really like the concept of "forecaring." I hadn't heard that word before.

quote:

Originally posted by goofy:
sorge is cognate with sorrow

I didn't realize that! You usually see Leid or Schmerz for sorrow, Sorge for worry or care/ concern. Interesting, those sentiments are actually intertwined, when you think about it.

Good point, Bethree. They sure are.

Reviving a thread...
I just read this ominous article using the word Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The tide toward Vergangenheitsbewältigung may be changing in Germany. It's a bit chilling to think about...

Not just Germany, but the world. Look around you, Kalleh.

Yes, of course. I was referring to the article because of its use of the word in this thread, not for a political statement. However, it is hard these days to stay out of politics, isn't it? <sigh>