Some Memories of Germany, Part 3

All of these pictures were taken at various times during the 1980s.

Der Römer, the city hall of Frankfurt, am Römerberg, the plaza around the area.

I believe this is Niddastrasse in Frankfurt back in the 1980s, a picture taken from my hotel room.

The entrance to the Frankfurt Zoo in the 1980s.

This is St. Katharinenkirche (St. Catherine's Church, Lutheran), built circa 1680, but largely destroyed in World War Two, then rebuilt in the early 1950s. The column in the lower right with the advertisements on it is called a "Litfaßsäule," invented in Berlin by Ernst Litfaß (ß=double s) in the 1800s; they are a common way to display advertisements in the German speaking countries.

A view from the river in Frankfurt.

WORD HISTORY:
Hight-This is not a misspelling, but rather the word is now archaic, but perhaps it will make a comeback. This word, meaning "to call by name, to name," goes back to Indo European "kei," which had the notion of "move, cause to move." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "haitanan," which meant "to call, to call by name, to call out to" (all tied to the "move, cause to move" idea, as when you are called, it causes you to move ... well, in theory). This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "hatan" (first "a" is long), which meant "to call, to name, to be called, to summon," the singular past tense forms of which were "heht/hehte" (later in English, the past tense "te" ending would become "ed," while close cousin German still uses "te"). Naturally, the past tense meant "to be called, to be named," and the "heht/hehte" forms later became "hight." The other Germanic languages have: German "heißen" (ß=double s) ^, Low German Saxon and Dutch "heten," West Frisian "hjitte/hite," Danish "hedde," Icelandic "heitir," Norwegian "hete," Swedish "heta." All of these have the general meanings, "be named, be called," and "some," like their English relative, are not commonly used as much, or may be more dialectal, although the German form is very much alive and well, and very common.

^ Long ago, the high Germanic dialects experienced a sound shift, which often rendered the "t" sound as "s," or double "s;" thus, for instance, English has "kettle," but German has "Kessel."  Standard German is heavily based upon the high dialects of old.