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  • ABOUT
    • About Us
    • Current IGHS Board >
      • Committee Responsibilities
    • Our Past and Present
    • By-Laws
    • Strategic Planning
    • IGHS Orientation
    • Partnerships
    • Board Members Login
  • MEMBERSHIP
    • Membership
    • Join and Belong
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    • 2025 Annual Meeting
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    • The Friends of Wyneken
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      • German Customs, Traditions and Origins of Holidays
      • German Americana Quiz
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COMMONALITIES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND GERMAN

First, a detailed discussion of the main types of cognates by Charles James.
From the Summer 1996 Newsletter of the Indiana German Heritage Society.

English and German belong to the West Germanic language family. This explains the fact that they share numerous words that are identical or quite similar in either pronunciation or spelling or both. We distinguish a) common root words (= cognates) from the common Germanic past, when the Anglo-Saxons were still direct neighbors of other German tribes, (types: "finger," "water") and b) common loan words from the Greek, Latin and French (types: "telescope," "battalion"). In this segment we concentrate on the Germanic commonalities.

In the last issue of the Newsletter we looked at the three dialect bands of Upper-, Middle- and Low German. The latter was not affected by the still mysterious sound shifts ( after c. 500) that moved from south to north with decreasing strength. Since the Anglo-Saxon element had already left for England, they like the North German tribes, didn't participate in these shifts affecting a lot of consonants. The Anglo-Saxon consonant-ism is therefore older than the High German one. If we observe the "laws" or "rules" that governed these shifts, we can take a pretty enlightened guess as to how a given word might, should or must look in the other language.

On the top of each block of words the shifted German (G) consonant(s) and the unshifted English (E) are given. Some German examples show more than one consonant shift, but by consulting other blocks you'll be able to explain why a certain form occurs. Vowel changes also occurred in many cases, so be prepared for that. Over time, some many a cognate assumed a wider or narrower meaning: (E) deer = (G) Tier (=animal); (E) starve = (G) sterben (=die)

 1.(G) pf = (E) p (G) f(f) = (E) p(p)
 Pflanze = plant schlafen = sleep
 Pflug = plow auf = up
 Pfennig = ___________ Schiff = ___________
 Pfeffer = ___________ hoffen = ___________
 Pfund = ___________ Seife = ___________
 Apfel = ___________ helfen = ___________

 (G) (t)z = (E) t (G) s(s), sz = (t)t
 z&#auml;hlen = tally besser = better
 Zeit = (Yul)tide essen = eat(en)
 zwei = ___________ das = ___________
 zu = ___________ Fuss = ___________
 Zunge = ___________ heiss = ___________
 sitzen = ___________ lassen = ___________
 neunzig = ___________ aus = ___________
 Malz = ___________ gross = ___________
 Pfefferminze =_______________ (but: s = s sagen/say)

 (G) ch = (E) k (G) ch = (E) ch
 Buch = book reichen = reach
 wach = awake reich = ___________
 Woche = ___________ solch = ___________
 kochen = ___________
 riechen = ___________

 (G) k = (E) c/(c)k (G) k = (E) ch
 kommen = come K&#auml;se = cheese
 kann = ___________ Kirsche = cherry
 kosten = ___________ Kirche = ___________
 Karte = ___________ Karte = ___________
 Kaffee = ___________ Karl = ___________

 (G) ch = (E) gh
 Nacht = night brachte = ___________
 Macht = ___________ lachte = ___________
 Licht = ___________ recht = ___________
 acht = ___________ Knecht = ___________

 2. (G) b = (E) v (G) b = (E) f
 sieben = seven Dieb = thief
 Abend = ___________ halb = ___________
 haben = ___________ Kalb = ___________
 lieben = ___________ Stab = ___________

 (G) t = (E) d (G) d = (E) th
 Tor = door danken = thank
 tu' = ___________ dick = ___________
 tanzen = ___________ dünn = ___________
 gut = ___________ Bad = ___________
 selten = ___________ Tod = ___________
GERMAN WORDS IN EVERYDAY AMERICA

You may encounter words that are identical in both languages or only slightly changed (e.g., finger, hand, arm. wind, winter, Schulter-shoulder, Knie-knee, Mutter-mother, Onkel-uncle, Garten-garden, grün-green, blau-blue, fein-fine, rot-red). These words are identical or similar because they evolved from a single earlier language. Their closeness derives from their shared ancestry: the West-Germanic language family. Words in this group are called cognates (=born together).

We also use words such as Inspiration, Student, Semester, Chance-- again identical in both languages, except for capitalization in German. Words in this group are derived from Greek and Latin. And a sentence like: Mein Vater ist Professor für Chemie und mein Bruder studiert Physik, Mathematik und Biologie is readily understood.

Most of the words listed below, have become so common in American English, at least in some areas, that they are now considered part of the American language.

gemütlichkeit waltz kitsch
kaffeeklatsch leitmotiv wunderkind
beergarden yodel katzenjammer
stein edelweiss kindergarten
prosit lied (pron. leet) poltergeist
rat(h)skeller liederkranz Kriss Kringle
spritz glockenspiel hausfrau
weltanschauung turnverein paraffin
zeitgeist gesundheit plunder
gestalt hinterland meerschaum
weltschmerz rucksack misch-masch
angst wanderlust zigzag
ostpolitik iceberg kaputt
blitz(krieg) ohm wunderbar
flak ersatz fahrvergnügen
verboten dummkopf spatsy
Heldentenor bedeckt

Germans are very fond of dogs and introduced many breeds to the United States: Schnauzer, Dachshund, Spitz, Doberman, Poodle, Pincher, German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Weimaraner, German Shorthair.

From Teaching Unit: German Names and Words in the American Language
Please visit the home page of the Max Kade German-American Center for complete versions of the above excerpts and further information.

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