海角大神

鈥淕erman must have a word for it.鈥� Most such internet assertions are false. But in my opinion as a German American and a linguist, this one turns out to be nearly true. Let me explain some of the tricks of the German word factory. There are quite a few Germanisms that have become part of English vocabulary, such as Schadenfreude, but let鈥檚 talk about the more subtle 贵颈苍驳别谤蝉辫颈迟锄别苍驳别蹿眉丑濒. It means the sixth sense someone might have for the right move in a difficult situation.

Let鈥檚 dissect the word. It is a compound noun, just like swan boat or apple juice in English. German prefers to write its compounds without spaces or hyphens. The two nouns that come into play are Fingerspitze, itself a compound that means 鈥渇ingertip,鈥� and 骋别蹿眉丑濒, which means 鈥渟ense鈥� or 鈥渇eeling.鈥� German compounds (English ones, as well) are right-headed: The noun on the right determines the kind of thing referred to, so 贵颈苍驳别谤蝉辫颈迟锄别苍驳别蹿眉丑濒 talks about a kind of sense (just as a swan boat is a boat and apple juice is a certain kind of juice). The other noun modulates the meaning in some way. So 贵颈苍驳别谤蝉辫颈迟锄别苍驳别蹿眉丑濒 is a kind of sense or feeling that has something to do with fingertips.

Your fingertips are sensitive parts of your body, useful for delicate manipulations, such as undoing a stubborn knot in your shoelaces. But 贵颈苍驳别谤蝉辫颈迟锄别苍驳别蹿眉丑濒 doesn鈥檛 just refer to this physical sense. The next stage in the word factory is the one that associates transferred, metaphorical meanings with words that are originally rooted in the physical world.

So, what about the claim that German has a word for everything? Well, given the relative freedom of compounding and metaphorical extension, German speakers could manufacture a word for anything they wanted. Most of the time, it isn鈥檛 worth the trouble. There are other ways: One could use a sentence or two to describe the thing in a more complex way. One could make up a noncompound word. One could borrow a word from another language and be done with it. German liberally borrows words, especially from English. Last year鈥檚 top 10 new words selected by the German Society for Language included the English-derived Lockdown-Kinder and Booster.

There鈥檚 another assertion floating around the web. This one is patently false: Doesn鈥檛 the fact that one language has a word for something, while others don鈥檛, reveal that your native language gives you exclusive access to aspects of reality that are not even perceptible to others? Well, no. More on that some other time.聽

Guest columnist聽Kai von Fintel is a professor of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Melissa Mohr is on vacation.聽