The Allies & Berlin, 1945

This is in answer to a very good question posed by a regular reader in one of the comments.
His question: "Why didn't the Americans and Brits take Berlin?"

General Dwight Eisenhower, the overall commander of the Allied forces, made the determination NOT to take Berlin. His decision came in February 1945, not long after the Allies had not only defeated the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge, but had pushed the Germans back toward the Rhine River in western Germany. His decision was based upon the following:

-Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin had already agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones. Berlin, which would lie within the Soviet zone, was also to be divided into occupation zones. This meant that Allied forces, more likely American forces, would have to go through what was to become the Soviet zone to even get to Berlin.

-When Eisenhower made his decision, the Soviets had penetrated deeply into eastern Germany, and, at their closest point, were only about 40 miles from Berlin. On the other hand, the western Allies were perhaps 300-400 miles from Berlin.

-Eisenhower's staff told him it would cost at least 100,000 casualties for the Allies to take Berlin.

When put together, Eisenhower saw: heavy casualties to take a city hundreds of miles away, when the Soviets were already at Berlin's doorstep. Fighting through and taking casualties in territory that would then have to be given over to the Soviets anyway. It should be noted, Churchill wanted Eisenhower to go for Berlin, but the general chose not to do so.

For the Allies to take Berlin "could" have also brought about the "split" between the Allies and the Soviets so dreamed of by Hitler and the other Nazi leaders. The Soviets and Stalin were far more filled with revenge against Hitler and Germans than the Allies,* and they really wanted to take Berlin, regardless of casualties. You can draw your own conclusions, but I think Eisenhower made the right call, given the situation at that time. I know, many argued "later" that Berlin became the center of the "Cold War," but in February/March 1945, the Cold War was in the future.

* The Soviet Union suffered many millions of casualties, including millions of civilians, at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis.

WORD HISTORY:
Prosit/Prost-These words, "prost" is derived from "prosit," are drinking toasts, and were borrowed from German, apparently in the mid 1800s, and are equivalent to English "Cheers!" or "To your health." German borrowed "Prosit" from Latin "prodesse," which meant "be useful, be beneficial," and it is the third person singular present subjunctive of the verb. Subjunctive, also called "subjunctive mood," is used to help express a wish; thus, "may it benefit you." Of course, a few too many "Prosits" will not be beneficial to you...hicc! "Scuse me!" The "pros" part is related to English "for," and the "it" part is related to English "is."

The German Question, Part Eighty-Three

"Kaiser Wilhelm & World War I" Part Two/M "The Germans At War"
"The Kaiser After The War"

This will be the last part in this section, and I'm only doing it to sort of tidy up a bit before I move on. Next I'll deal with the very important peace treaties and post-war activities. If you thought the Austrians were now out of the "German" picture, they're not, as they are about to re-enter the "German Question."

Kaiser Wilhelm II fled to the Netherlands and lived in the city of Doorn, where he became something of a country squire. The Kaiser chose to remain in residence there, as Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands would not agree to his extradition, in spite of repeated calls to prosecute Wilhelm for not honoring the treaty with neutral Belgium. It wasn't long before Wilhelm was blaming others, like Jews, for his abdication and the German defeat. In a terrible portent of the Nazi era, he expressed the desire for German Jews to be destroyed and even mentioned a method to do so....gas. Later, however, when the Nazis took power, Wilhelm, still in the Netherlands, retreated from some of his extreme views, perhaps mellowing as his rule grew more distant in time, and perhaps too, because he learned of Nazi thuggery early on. Wilhelm disagreed with the persecution of Germany's Jews during the 1930s (that is, prior to the gas chambers), even admonishing one of his sons for his support of such, and declaring that the persecutions made him "ashamed to be German." Unfortunately, Wilhelm returned to his more extreme views not long before his death, seeing Jewish persecutions as a backlash against Jews for trying to rule the world. No mention of the maniac in power in Germany then. Talk about trying to rule the world!

Early on, Wilhelm seems to have believed Germans would demand a return of the monarchy, but once Hitler came to power, he realized the Nazis and Hitler would never agree to that. He promised never to return to his homeland until the monarchy was restored, and he kept that promise.

In World War Two, with German armies victorious against France and many other European nations (except Wilhelm's nemesis, England), the former Kaiser died just prior to Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Wilhelm was laid to rest in the Netherlands, where his body still remains to this day.

WORD HISTORY:
Note: In the last installment, I mentioned how Frisian, Low German, and Dutch are closer to modern English than standard German is, due to sound shifts. I just want to clarify, English too has had sound shifts, and grammatical changes, but these took place after Anglo-Saxon was established in England. I "suppose" many English speakers would say that the changes in English have "modernized" the language; I would say it "streamlined" English, as conjugations and grammar became far less complex, although English pronunciation versus spelling confuses the hell out of people trying to learn English. The "ough" of "though" is pronounced like a long "o," but the same "ough" of "tough" is pronounced as if "uff." Throw in the "ough" of "through," and you have a word pronounced like "threw." These kinds of things are enough (there's that "uff") to drive a foreign speaker crazy! Anyway, there is no doubt about it, standard German, for instance, is more similar to the English somewhat before Shakespeare's time. If you have followed the "histories" here, you have probably noted how similar modern German and Dutch words are to the English of those times, and most certainly before, as up until about 1100 A.D., they were all really just dialects of one another. English verbs often ended in "en," just as modern German verbs still do. Germans still use the equivalent "thee," "thou," "thine;" words still familiar to us in English, but not used on an every day basis by most English speakers, unless you belong to certain quaint religious groups. These words are now more confined to old hymns, passages from old Bibles (those not yet put into modern English), or, of course, from Shakespeare or other authors from times now gone by. Further, German grammar is VERY complicated compared to English, something for which English speakers should be thankful, thrust me! The German dialects I mention so often are not standard, and in some cases they have followed some of the simplifications of their English relative, although they still tend to use their forms of "thee" and "thou." With, for example, "thine," still used in standard German as "dein" (pronounced pretty much like English "dine), some German dialects have dropped the "n," giving them the word equivalent to English "thy."

Spitz-This word for a breed of dog is related to "spit" (noun for "skewer, pointed stick or metal used to roast food, especially meat"). It goes back to Old Germanic "spituz," which meant "sharp, pointed." This gave Old High German "spizza," and then "spiz," which then became modern German "spitz," all with the meaning of "pointed, sharp." The dog type, bred in the then German area of Pomerania in the 1800s (perhaps 1700s?), was supposedly so named because of its "pointed" snout. This dog type name was then borrowed into English in the 1840s. The Indo European ancestor of this word is too uncertain for me. Some sources say "spei" was the Indo European root, but that is not universally even accepted as a root, so I'll leave it there. The main thing is, we have the word in English, and we have these wonderful dogs. My dog, "Rocky," aka "Rock," was mainly "Spitz." He died at nearly 16 1/2 years old in August 2006. I miss him EVERY DAY! He was "my boy."

Revised Word History: "Krieg"

I did some more research on the German word "Krieg," most often used in English as part of the compound "Blitzkrieg." So here is a revised and expanded history of the word:

Krieg-Since I did "Blitz" earlier, here is the "krieg" part of the compound. First, interestingly Old Germanic did not seem to have any one word for "war." Our English word goes back to a meaning of "confuse, mix," but this didn't come into English until the 1100s (see link below). "Presumably" Old English also had a word similar to "krieg," although I have not found it. It seems that the continental Germanic languages, besides German, used a form of "krieg" for their word for "war" too, but this seems to have come about AFTER the Germanic tribes (Anglo-Saxons) settled in Britain. So here's what I found: "Krieg" goes back to a form of the Indo European root "g(w)er," which had the notion of "heavy," and maybe also "strength" (if something is "heavy" it takes "strength" to lift of move it). A form of the root was "gwerg" (this is NOT carved in stone, but I believe the "w" was not so much a separate sound, but rather a combination with the "g," which had a hard sound, as in "give," and the "w" was more of a "v" sound). This gave Old Germanic "kreg/krig," which meant "stubbornness." (I'm wondering if this meant more specifically "stubbornness in defense?" This would sure give it a tie in to later mean "war.") This then gave Old High German "krig," with the same meaning. Old High German is a term linguists use to denote the Germanic dialect that developed not long after the Germanic tribes that went to Britain left the Continent. It is the ancestor of modern German, just as Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the ancestor of modern English. Both English and German are West Germanic, which then goes back to Old Germanic, and then back to Indo European. Later the form "kriec" developed, with the meaning "strain, endeavor" (presumably one has to strain or make great endeavor to be stubborn, although I found one explanation essentially saying that "stubbornness" leads to "conflict") and this then developed into the meaning "war." Besides standard German "Krieg," the other Germanic relatives of English have: Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish all have "krig;" Dutch has both "krijg" and "oorlog," Low German has "Oorlog," Frisian has "kriich," and Icelandic has "stríð," which is a relative of our words "strife" and "stride."

For the history of the word "war," see:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/07/german-question-part-twenty-four.html

The German Question, Part Twenty-Seven

"In English It's Vienna, But In German It's Wien"

The area of Vienna was originally settled by Celtic tribes, who apparently named the area "Vedunia," which meant "stream," or "forest stream." When the Romans came, they called their own encampment there "Vindobona," which some linguists feel was taken from the Celtic name, while others disagree. Whatever the case, Germanic peoples came to the area in force, including none other than Karl der Grosse (English/French, Charlemagne), considered by Germans to be their first emperor, who established the "Avar March" (German:"Awarenmark") in eastern Bavaria to guard his territory against the Avars, a nomadic group of people from central Asia, "seemingly" related to the Turks. The main Germanic people who settled the area then abandoned by the Romans were the Bavarians, and at some point the city became known as "Wenia," again supposedly taken from the Celtic or Roman terminology. This later became "Wien," in German (pronounced as if Veen), and Vienna, in English. Much of the Avar March later came to be called the "Ostmark" or "Eastern March;" a "march" being a fortified border area. It comprised much of what is modern Austria.

The German "Babenberg" family ruled the area and lived in Vienna for a couple of centuries prior to the rise of the Habsburg family, who then later also made Vienna their home. When the various Habsburgs rose to almost always be chosen as the German emperors, Vienna became the capital of the German Empire (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) until the end of the empire.

In 1529, the Ottoman Turks besieged the city, then surrounded by walls, as were many cities of those times. The city held out under the command of Graf von Salm (Graf=count, in English) and defeated the Turks, who retreated in serious disorder. This halted Turkish expansion in Europe at the time. The Turks returned, but not until July 1683. At that time an Ottoman army of between 100-200,000 men (sources vary on the number) surrounded the city. The initial German forces had been led by the emperor himself, Leopold von Habsburg (Leopold I), but they withdrew, and Leopold tried to organize forces for a relief attack. The remaining forces were seriously under strength, numbering less than 20,000, and that included several thousand civilian volunteers. The Turks demanded surrender, but the city, under the command of Graf Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg, refused. The walls of the city were strong and endured bombardment by the Turkish cannons, so the Turks decided to literally tunnel beneath the walls, plant explosive charges, and demolish the walls so they could then send troops into the city. Believe it or not, to counter this, the city commander had tunnels dug to intercept the Turks digging towards the walls!

The city garrison gradually began to look like they would lose the battle, but German forces under Karl (Charles), Duke of Lorraine,* arrived near the city and inflicted a serious defeat on some Hungarian forces allied with the Turks. Then major relief forces arrived outside the city in early September under the command of the King of Poland, Jan Sobieski, known as Jan III (he had an alliance with Leopold), who had several thousand excellent Polish cavalry. Various German forces (usually called "Imperials," since they were sent due to the appeal of the German emperor) from parts of the empire (Saxony, Bavaria and Franken, to name a few) also were part of this force, which by then saw this as a religious battle, too; Christian versus Muslim. As the Turks prepared a huge explosive charge to bring down a large section of the city walls, one of the counter-tunnels dug by the defenders came upon the Turkish explosives and disarmed them. Nearby, the assembled forces of both armies clashed, and the cavalry of both German and Polish forces carried the day against the Turks, who withdrew.

The Imperial and Polish forces captured large amounts of Turkish supplies, including a beverage that would become famous in Vienna, and all of Europe (and eventually America and the world), coffee! To this day, Vienna is known for its coffeehouses, which began springing up in the aftermath of this battle. Further, the city's bakers baked crescent-shaped rolls to commemorate the victory over the Muslim Turks (their flag had a crescent design on it), and this supposedly gave us the first "croissants," at least that's what the Viennese claim.

Like the Berliners, the Viennese have their own dialect. It is based upon High German, more particularly what is termed Oberdeutsch, "upper German," and it is part of the general "Bavarian" dialect of most, but not all, south German speakers.** In standard German it is called "Wienerisch," but in Bavarian it is called "Weanarisch." Like "Berlinerisch," it is basically spoken in the city and immediate suburban area, but begins to decline the further from the city limits one goes. Also, like with "Berlinerisch," people in the countryside may have great difficulty understanding it, even though in the case of "Wienerisch," it is based upon the same southern dialect of "Bavarian," whereas in Berlin, the dialect is quite different, as it is based upon standard German, with Low German influences, and in the countryside around Berlin, the dialect is based upon Low German. Again like "Berlinerisch," "Wienerisch" has been influenced by a number of non-German languages, in Vienna's case like Hungarian, Czech, and Italian, and the Yiddish influence on the dialect has also been noticeable.

In the United States, one goes to a bar (neighborhood type), in England one goes to a pub, in standard German one goes to a Kneipe (pronounced knipe-eh, with the "kn" sound pronounced, as we once did in English), but in "Wienerisch" one goes to a "Beisl" (the "ei" is pronounced as a long "i"). In standard German one might drink a "Bier" (pronounced pretty close to the English word), but in "Wienerisch" it is "Bia," as if bee-ah. We have "that" and standard German has "das," which comes out "des" in "Wienerisch," just as we say "have," which is "haben" (short "a" like in father) in standard German, but which comes out "ham" (not like English meat from a pig, but with the same short "a" in father). Many, but not all, participle forms of verbs in standard German begin with the prefix "ge," and English once did similar with either "ge" or "ga" prefixes, but in Bavarian generally, and certainly in "Wienerisch," the "ge" often becomes just a barely detectable "g," with no "e" sound, so that we have "gesehen" (ge-zay-en, which means "seen") in standard German, but gsehn (no "e" sound after the "g" or before the "n" either) in "Wienerisch" and much of Bavarian. Much like in English, standard German "mein" (pronounced like our word "mine," but meaning "my") becomes simply "mei" in Bavarian, pronounced like English "my." Where English has the now archaic "thine," standard German has "dein" (like "dine"), but in Bavarian it is reduced to "dei" (like English "die"). In the north, the use of the regular past tense is common. Since I used "gesehen," above, I'll stick with the base word "sehen," =to see. In the regular past tense, English speakers would say "I saw," and in standard German it is the very similar "Ich sah" (zah), but in the south, even in standard German, they tend to use the participle form for past tense, except for the much used words for "be" and "have" ("sein" and "haben" are the infinitive forms), so it would be "Ich habe gesehen" (which can be translated a variety of ways: "I saw," "I did see," "I have seen," this last being the literal word-for-word translation).

A Word History" is below the notes....

* Charles was known as "Duke (Herzog, in German) of Lorraine (Lothringen, in German)," but in fact, Lorraine at that time was under French occupation, so he had no territory.

** In more recent times, many linguists call "Bavarian" the hyphenated "Austro-Bavarian." I'll be more traditional and retain the term "Bavarian." While the overwhelming number of Austrians and Bavarians speak this general dialect, there are exceptions, as in far western Austria and northwestern Bavaria, the dialect is Alemannic; that is, the general dialect of Swabia, Alsace and Switzerland, while around Nuremberg, the dialect is Frankish (historically the regional name of the area is "Franken;" rendered in English as "Franconia"). 

WORD HISTORY:
Tread-This word is closely related to "trade." This word's ultimate origin is hazy, perhaps going back to an expanded form of Indo European "der/dr," which meant "to walk, to step." It appears that the basic word is only present in the Germanic languages, which goes back to the Old Germanic verb form "tredan(an)," which meant "to step (on), to walk (on.)." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tredan," which later became "treden," before becoming modern "tread." The noun form was derived from the verb in the early 1200s, and the idea of repeated "treading" on an area creating a path, developed the sense of "tire tread," from the "groove" created by such repeated treading. Related forms in the other Germanic languages: German has "treten," Low German has "treden," Dutch has "treden," West Frisian "tree," Danish has "træde," Swedish has "träda," Norwegian has "trø" and Icelandic has "troða/trotha."

The German Question, Part Twenty-Two

Slightly updated July 30, 2015


In the early days, Berlin became the main city and capital of Brandenburg, and Königsberg became the capital of Prussia. When the two areas were merged, Berlin became the capital.

The people of the entire northern area of Germany were Low German speakers, and modern Dutch, Frisian, and ENGLISH all are closely related to these Low German dialects. Don't forget, the northern coastal area of modern Germany and part of Holland, along with the western coast of Denmark, is the ancestral homeland of English, as the Angles, Saxons and Jutes lived there before going to Britain and founding England, although not all Saxons left the area, and a substantial number remained on the Continent (their language is called "Old Saxon").

As these northern Germans moved eastward into Prussia and Brandenburg,* they came into contact with a number of Slavic, Old Prussian, and Lithuanian dialects,** and a number of words were borrowed into these Low German dialects from these non-Germanic speakers.*** Berlin eventually became a separate linguistic case. The initial settlers there were Low German speakers, but as Berlin became an important government center, and with the publication of Luther's Bible giving rise to a more standard form of German, that standard form began to take over, but it never completely pushed out Low German, even to this day, and "Berlinerisch," as the Berlin dialect is called, is essentially standard German with some Low German characteristics, and borrowings from Slavic and French (see Part 21 about the French Huguenots). Much later still, Jewish refugees from Polish territories brought new terms with them when they settled in Berlin.**** In the countryside outside of Berlin, Low German is still spoken in some places, but standard German is now spoken by all (including in Berlin), save for perhaps some very elderly people, and the number of Low German speakers; that is, people who actually know Low German, has declined substantially since the end of World War Two. It's always important to remember, while I say standard German (Hochdeutsch) is spoken by all, that doesn't mean there aren't regional or local dialect characteristics used in their renderings of that "standard German," including some distinct vocabulary or pronunciation differences, which is really no different from English, or likely any other language, and German regional dialects are still often spoken at home and among other family members, neighbors and friends; so, German dialects, some very strong and difficult to understand, persist right up to the present.  

One of the interesting characteristics of "Berlinerisch" (pronounced as if, bear-lean-air-ish) is the way some words are pronounced, compared to standard German. In standard German one would say, "Ich bin in Berlin geboren" (I was born in Berlin), but in Berlin dialect, it is, "Ik bin in Berlin jeboren," with the "ch" sound of "ich" ("I") being pronounced/spelled "k" (this is a tendency in most of the Low German dialects, and that was how it was spelled in English for many centuries). The "g" is spelled "j," but is pronounced like English "y," so phonetically, "Ik bin in Bear-lean yeboren." Further, the Low German influences are still present, as standard German "w-a-s" (which means "what," and is pronounced "vahs," with the "a" of "father") is "wat" in Berlin dialect (again with the "a" of "father"). Likewise, "that" is "det/dat" in Berlin dialect, but "das" in standard German.***** You can see the Low German sounds are more closely related to English. (A Word History is below the notes)

* They initially moved into areas just east of their homelands, known as Mecklenburg and Pomerania, which were also occupied by Slavic speakers.

** All are Indo European languages and are therefore related to the Germanic languages, but further down the family tree. Old Prussian and Lithuanian are closely related, as is Latvian, and all belong to the Baltic part of Indo European, although in more modern times, a good many linguists, but not all, link the Baltic languages with Slavic, and call them "Balto-Slavic." Old Prussian is no longer spoken, and is considered a "dead" language.

*** The Swedes, North Germanic speakers, occupied much of this northern area at various times later on (Sweden was once a formidable military power), and they too contributed influences on some of these German dialects in particular areas.

**** Yiddish, which literally means "Jewish," is a Germanic language that developed about a thousand or more years ago, seemingly in the Rhineland area of Germany. It was based upon the High German dialect of that area, with elements from various German dialects, Hebrew, Slavic, and some Latin-based languages, like Rumanian. It was initially referred to as "taytsh/taytsch" (which meant "German," compared to Middle High German "tiutsch" and modern German "Deutsch"). As Jews moved across eastern Europe, they took this language along, thus picking up those various other characteristics from Slavic and Rumanian over time. It seems the term "Yiddish" wasn't really applied to the language until the 1700s. It is still spoken today, even in America, principally in New York City.

***** These differences are due to a sound shift which occurred after Anglo-Saxon was already established in Britain, and since the northern low dialects were not affected by this sound shift, English remains closer to these low dialects. In the dialects more to the south, the "t" tended to become "s," and these dialects came to be called "high," as they were in more elevated terrain. Standard German is based upon "High German." In English we have "kettle," but in High German it is "Kessel," for instance.

WORD HISTORY:
Schnitzel-This goes back to Old Germanic "snithan(an)," which meant "to cut, to slice." This gave Old High German "snidan" and later "sniden." This gave birth to "snitzen" (later "schnitzen"), which meant "to carve, to slice." The diminutive (to make something smaller) form "snitzel/schnitzel" then developed. This seems to have been borrowed into English in the mid 1800s, probably as the German meat dish, "breaded cutlet of pork or veal, which is then fried," became popular. Further, a "Schnitzelbank" is a "cutting bench for sawing wood," as in the song/rhyme "Ist Das Nicht Ein Schnitzelbank," some of you may be familiar with. By the way, before English took on the word "slice" from French, and before English settled on "cut," we used a form of "snithan" to mean "slice/cut/slaughter," and a "snaed" was "a small piece cut from something." While unconfirmed, I have to believe that our word "snide," as in "snide (sharp/cutting) remark," traces back to this.

NOTE: As you can see, I have not given a source for the Old Germanic form. This is because I have never totally bought the source offered by some of Indo European "sneit/snyet," with the meaning "to cut." That doesn't mean this is not correct, but I have just not been convinced. 

The German Question, Part Twenty-One

"Competition For The Habsburgs"

In a previous article in this series, we learned that a family originating in the southwestern area of the German territories, the Habsburgs, came to dominate a large part of southern German lands, and indeed, eventually established a virtual permanent lock on providing the German emperor (technically of the "Holy Roman Empire," which in fact was the old German Empire); thus making Vienna the de facto capital of the German Empire. Interestingly, a second family, originating in the same general southwestern area, began a rise to power that eventually challenged the Habsburgs. This family was the "Hohenzollerns." Like their future rivals, their name came from their family castle, "Burg Hohenzollern," located at the town of Hechingen, in the area known as Swabia. It is about thirty to thirty-five miles south of Stuttgart. The original castle was destroyed during a war in the 1420s and was followed a couple of decades later by another castle with sturdier fortifications. This castle eventually came into the possession of..... the Habsburgs! By the mid 1800s, not much remained of castle #2, and a third castle was built, with only the chapel remaining from #2, and construction of #3 lasting for nearly twenty years. It is this castle that remains today, still owned by members of the Hohenzollern family, and it is open for tours, with hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

Just as with so much of this series, the era of German history we're entering is far more complicated and extensive than I will write about, and my aim is to be as general as possible, but to try to give a good idea of the overall developments in events.

The Hohenzollerns eventually established a strong position in and around the Nuremberg area (Nürnberg, in German), which is a region known as "Franken," usually rendered in English as "Franconia," and named after a branch of the Germanic tribe, the Franks.* Due to marriages and land purchases, a part of the Hohenzollern family came into possession of large territories in the northeastern German lands. With these acquisitions, the Hohenzollern family separated into two parts, with the other part, I guess I'll call it the "original" part, remaining in the Nuremberg area.** The territories in the northeast were in the German area called "Brandenburg," which includes Berlin. A bit later, the family inherited much of what was known as "Prussia" (Preussen, in German, with the "eu" being equivalent to English "oi" or "oy"). The Hohenzollerns then merged these two provinces in the 1600s and eventually called it the "Kingdom of Prussia" in 1701.*** (See earlier parts of this series for how the Germans initially came to these lands.) When the Reformation came along in the 1500s, the Hohenzollerns embraced Protestantism. By the 1600s, when French Protestants, called the Huguenots, were in battles with, and persecuted by, the French Catholics, the Hohenzollerns invited these Frenchmen to settle in Prussia, where they were granted asylum. Thousands took the Prussian offer (figures vary, but somewhere between 15-20,000), supposedly with more than six thousand settling in Berlin alone. By this time, the Hohenzollerns were becoming something of a rival to the dominant Habsburgs, a rivalry that would only grow in coming years. (A Word History is below the notes)

* Another part of the Franks conquered much of what is now modern France, eventually giving their tribal name to the country, and the name of their language, "Fraenkish," which has become our word "French." The Frankish language was eventually absorbed by the Latin-based dialects in the overall area, but provided a fair number of words that were borrowed into these dialects, some of which still remain in modern French. This is a case of the "conquerors," the Franks (and their language), eventually being peacefully overtaken and absorbed by the "conquered," what was mainly a Celtic-Roman population present when the Franks invaded.

** Both branches of the family are owners of the existing castle mentioned above, but the "northern" (Prussian) branch, holds the majority ownership.

*** Originally, Brandenburg was a "Margrave" (Markgraf, in German), that is, it was ruled by a type of "count," who also was an elector; that is, he had a vote in the election of any new German emperor; the title of elector in German was "Kurfürst" ("fürst" is really the same word as English "first," and is pronounced similarly). Prussia was originally ruled by a "duke" (Herzog, in German). When the two were merged as a kingdom (Königreich, in German), the ruler was henceforth known as a "king," although regardless of title, high German nobles were known collectively as the "German princes." (Note: Elector Frederick III crowned himself as the first King of Prussia, as King Frederick I)

WORD HISTORY:
Wright-Not commonly used in modern English, except as a name or in compounds (like "playwright" and "wheelwright"), this word goes back to Indo European "werg," which meant "work or do something." It is indeed closely related to the word "work." The Old Germanic offshoot was "werkam," with the same meaning. This produced in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wyrcan," again with the same meaning. A noun variant developed as "wyhrta," meaning "worker," but later, the "r" and the vowel were transposed, giving English "wrytha." This eventually developed into the more modern "wright" (and don't forget, the "gh" was once pronounced), with the general meaning "skilled worker, craftsman." From what I can find, while other Germanic languages (or dialects might be more proper) from days of old had similar words directly related to the English "wright" (Old High German had "wurtho," for example), they have all died out, except for Dutch "wrecht" (meaning "worker, builder of something"), although it too is now archaic. Just as the closely related word "work" has survived in English, there are living relatives of "work" in the other Germanic languages.

Note To Part 19; German Question

I just want to add that one of the original members of the Swiss Confederation was the canton of "Schwyz" (pronounced pretty much like "shvitz," with a short "i," and it is not hard to see, or hear, how English got "Swiss"). The name of the country, Switzerland, is derived from that name. The standard German rendering of Switzerland is "Schweiz," which is pronounced like above, but with a long "i" sound instead. A "canton" was a term used for a region.

The German Question, Part Nineteen

The Swiss Move Toward Independence

Just a little information about the Swiss to start off: Modern Switzerland is some two-thirds German speaking, with the remainder being French, Italian, and Romansh speaking, in that order.* Like the other German areas of Europe, the Swiss speak a German dialect of their own, as well as standard German. Actually their dialect is diverse from region to region, and I'm not sure all varieties are mutually intelligible; that is, that people in one region can fully understand people from other areas. Standard German is the link for all of the Swiss, and is also their connection to other German speaking people in Europe. Now....

With so much of the area that became modern Switzerland being mountainous, some of the local communities banded together and cooperated in trade with one another, and in helping to secure the mountainous terrain in their vicinity. The German-dominated Holy Roman Empire gave these districts the special privilege of answering only to the emperor, with no princes or dukes involved in their rule. This circumstance, and their difficult geography, helped to foster a certain independence among these mountaineers. This all transpired in the period from the late 1200s into the 1400s. Gradually other mountain communities joined "The Swiss Confederation."**

Remember, if you've been following this series, the Holy Roman Empire, or Old German Empire, was not really a strong entity, and the individual states had much leeway in their own dealings. The Habsburg family coveted much of the territory of the Swiss Confederation, and they sought to take it by force at times. The Swiss and the Habsburgs fought a number of battles and wars over time, but initially, the German Emperor (from either the Hohenstaufen or Luxemburg families) supported the Swiss, maintaining their special relationship within the empire. When the Habsburg family took over as German emperors, they tried to use their position to further their own interests (not the empire's) with the Swiss and others. The Swiss were not pushovers, and they fought valiantly against the Habsburg forces, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Habsburgs in 1499, which resulted in the Habsburgs agreeing to the Swiss maintaining their independent position within the empire. It was only a matter of time before the Swiss would gain true independence.

* Romansch is a language of Latin derivation, descending from the Latin spoken by Roman soldiers and settlers during the period of the Roman Empire. It is closely related to the language of southern France, Monaco, and just over into the Italian Riviera, called Provencal.

** "Eidgenossenschaft" in German, which means roughly "Oath Membership," or "Confederation." (See "Word History") The "genosse(n)" part by itself means, "comrade, buddy," but also, "a member of some cooperative group." English once had the closely related "geneat," which also meant, "comrade, buddy," but which, during feudalism, took on the additional meaning, "vassal;" that is, "a tenant obligated by agreement to serve a lord." The German "ss" instead of the English "t" in the German word is due to a sound shift which came to dominate the high dialects where the "t" sound became "s" or "ss." For example, English has "vat" (originally spelled with an "f"), but German has "Fass;" English has "kettle," but German has "Kessel."  

WORD HISTORY:
Oath-This word has a "shaky" early history, but it "possibly" goes back to Indo European "oyet," which meant something like, "meaningful statement." "Apparent forms" are only in Celtic and Germanic, which makes me wonder if one or the other was the original source, as Germanic people and Celtic people had much contact and mingling long ago. ^ Old Germanic had "aithaz," which then gave Old English "ath," with a long "a" sound. By the Middle Ages it was "ooth" or "oth," before the modern version. The Germanic relatives of English all have similar words for "oath": German has "Eid," pronounced as if "it" with a long "i" sound, Low German has "eed," Dutch has "eed," Swedish, Norwegian and Danish all have "ed," and Icelandic has "eið" (=eith). West Frisian once used "eed," but from what I can tell, it is archaic, and in more modern times they use a form related to English "swear" (as in "swear a promise").

^ I say "apparent forms," because there are some "possible" relatives in other Indo European languages, but it is unclear if these forms are from the same source or coincidental, as the meanings vary and it is hard to make a connection as to how the varied meanings would have come about. 

The German Question, Part Seventeen

While remaining in safety in Saxony, Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German,* complete with his take on the meaning of some passages. Since there were many dialects of German, with northern speakers and southern speakers not easily being able to understand one another to any great degree, he mainly used a dialect literally in the middle from his own region (Saxony and Thuringia), and which was able to be understood by most German speakers. This dialect was prevalent in government and church circles in Saxony, but he also used some "high" dialect in his translation ("high" meaning from elevated areas, not "high" in the social sense), and he tried to make the flow of the translation be of common speech and not the more rigid ecclesiastical terminology. This "German Bible," coupled with the printing technology of those times, permitted wide distribution of Luther's work, and brought him a growing number of adherents to his beliefs. No question about it, this translation laid the foundation of the modern German language, as it spread throughout literary and educational circles, and gradually it  made headway against the Low German dialects (again "low" meaning from plains and low-lying areas) of the northern part of Germany. So, if you've ever studied German, and you cursed all of those grammatical rules, suffixes and changes to verbs, adjectives, and even some nouns, you can give at least some of the blame to Luther (hahaha, but remember, English once did similar, but then simplified). Of course, if you're Catholic too, you might give him all of the blame (get it? Luther founded Lutheranism, so if you're Catholic.....oh never mind). He then did a translation of the Old Testament, which was also published a bit later. This overall move toward a "standard German" language helped foster German nationalism and a desire for a truly unified nation.**

It should be noted that Luther was also known for his anti-Jewish views, and some, if not many, historians attribute Luther's views and his tremendous influence as contributing to the rise in anti-Jewish feelings in Germany in his times. His arguments against Jews were something later used by the Nazis. (A Word History is below the notes)

* I'm not a Biblical scholar, but in all my years of reading German history, it was my understanding that Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German. When I was checking some info for this article, I read in one source that he translated these books from Latin; that is, from a previous translation from Greek into Latin, but other sources noted that he translated the Christian books from the Greek edition done by Dutch Catholic theologian Erasmus. Luther had studied Greek in his younger days. The Old Testament, also known by some as the "Jewish Bible," was originally in Hebrew.

** Many may find this hard to believe, but Germans speaking only their own dialects, and not standard German (see separate note below), persisted until well into the 20th Century. Naturally, as education became more and more widespread, more and more German speakers learned standard German, although that does not necessarily mean that they stopped using their own dialects too. Many Germans to this day take pride in their regional dialect, and they continue to use it among family and friends, using standard German for business and travel, for visitors outside of their region, or to listen to the radio or television. The post-World War Two era brought universal education to rural areas and small villages, and along with that education came the requirement to learn standard German. About 25 years ago, a postwar immigrant acquaintance of mine from Austria told me that one time he was at the train station in Stuttgart (I believe in the 1970s, if memory serves me right). An older man came up to him asking something, and he asked the man to speak German, but the man only spoke the local dialect, called "Schwäbisch," or "Swabian," in English. It is related to Alsatian (Elsässisch) and Swiss German (Schwyzerdütsch/ Schwiizertüütsch, depending upon...ah...dialect. And you thought English was tough!). Today, I'd find it hard to believe that anyone from Germany, Austria, or the German part of Switzerland (and probably Luxembourg) who doesn't speak standard German, unless perhaps they are very elderly, and even then they would have had such exposure to standard German that they would almost have to be able to understand most of it, if not speak it fluently.

Note: We don't really have anything quite like the German dialects in English, at least not in American English, and likely not in England either, although they are more pronounced there (the pun is not really intended, but what the hell). Perhaps that's because English itself is derived from some of those similar northern dialects, "Anglo-Saxon," from the Continent, which then transferred across to Britain. Many of the northern German dialects trace back to the Saxons and related Germanic tribes, just as English does, but the differences in German dialects from other areas can be stark. The German dialects should not necessarily be confused with variations in spoken German, since just as Americans or Englishmen speak the same basic English differently, so do Germans vary in their ways of speaking German, and certainly the regional dialects can have a major influence on how standard German is spoken.

WORD HISTORY:
Soul-I didn't find a solid Indo European root for this word, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Old Germanic had "saiwalo," with the notion of "the spiritual part of a person." Some etymologists suggest that this might be further linked to the Old Germanic word for "sea," which was "saiwaz," as the ancient Germanic people believed a person's soul derived from or went to the sea after death. This is possible, as we certainly see "spirits" as "flowing" along, much like water, and there could be a connection. From Germanic "saiwalo" came Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sawol," with the same basic meaning of "spiritual part of a person." This later became "soul," and by the 900s, it had come to mean "the spirit of a dead person." The other Germanic languages have: German has "Seele," Low German has "Seel," West Frisian "siel," Dutch has "ziel," Swedish has "själ," Danish has "sjael," Icelandic has "sál," and Norwegian has "sjel."

The German Question, Part Four

Updated slightly 6/30/2015

At this point in our story, it should be noted that the Danes were also by now a separate and distinct Germanic group, but we aren’t truly finished with the Danes, as they will be involved in what became northern Germany for quite some time. The area in question is what is generally known as Schleswig, a part of the post-World War Two German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

As the Roman Empire declined, the Germanic tribe the Alemanni* took over much of the regions known as “Alsace” and “Lorraine”, but the Alemanni were then conquered by the related Germanic tribe, the Franks. These two areas were later included in the “middle kingdom” by the Treaty of Verdun (see Part Three), but it wasn’t long before they were conquered, and became a part of the German-dominated Holy Roman Empire.

Similarly, in the area of what is modern Switzerland, the Alemanni settled in a large part of the middle and eastern sections, with the western areas being under the control of the Burgundians. The Burgundians were a Germanic tribe whose members spoke an East Germanic dialect, and they had long since been seen as a distinct Germanic element.** The Franks also conquered this region, but eventually the entire area of modern Switzerland came under control of the Holy Roman Empire, although the Latin-based French language had already overtaken any Germanic dialects in the western areas, and to this day, these areas are French speaking, with slightly more than 20% of Swiss nationals speaking French.*** The extreme southern part of Switzerland was, and still is, Italian speaking (about 8%). There is also a small Romansch-speaking area of Switzerland (less than 1%).**** Nearly 70% of Swiss nationals speak German to this day.^

So we have progressed to about 1000 A.D., and we’re beginning to see “some” borders develop around the general area of Germanic-speaking people in the western sections of Europe. In fact, it might now be more appropriate to start calling these people “Germans,” and their language “German,” although just like other languages of those times, there certainly was no standard language, but rather a great number of dialects. Obviously there were also many non-German speakers within this area, and this mixture would often prove to be a problem as time passed. (A Word History is below the notes)

*The modern Alsatian-German dialect traces back to the Alemanni tribal dialect, while the German dialect in Lorraine traces back to the Franks. The German dialects in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, far western Austria and in the general area of Stuttgart, Germany, all trace back to the Alemanni.

** Burgundy, a province of France, is of course named after the Germanic Burgundians, who ruled that general area prior to being overtaken by the Franks.

*** Again, the Franks conquered much of Gaul, but eventually the Latin dialects spoken there absorbed the Franks’ Germanic dialects, although the name for the country became “France,” named after the Franks, and the language was called “French,” after the language of the Franks. Confusing, but true.

**** Romansch (also frequently spelled Romansh) developed from the Latin spoken in these areas during the time of actual Roman rule. It is “similar” to some dialects of southern France and northern Italy.

^ Within the German language world; that is, native German speakers, regardless of country, people have tended to grow up speaking their own regional dialect, as well as “standard” German. By “standard,” I mean the language taught in the schools. The Swiss are no exception, as they still use their own broad dialect (which has some regional variations of its own), but they also speak and write in standard German, but with some Swiss distinctiveness, especially in governmental and food terminology. So, the point is, a person from Berlin and a person from Bern (Switzerland) can easily communicate with one another in standard German, but not so much so in their respective dialects. Berlin dialect is called "Berlinerisch," and the dialect of Bern is called "Berndeutsch," in standard German, but "Bärndütsch," in the dialect itself.

WORD HISTORY:
Fee-The history of this word may surprise you somewhat. It goes back to Indo European “peku,” which meant “cattle.” The history is rather difficult to follow, since many of the Indo European languages had a form of this word (“peku”), and it is tough to tell when one form was borrowed from another language, or when it was already present in a language, but perhaps reinforced by a similar term from another language. From what I can tell, there must have been an Old Germanic spin-off (spelled with an “f” at the beginning), although I cannot find it. Whatever the term, some of the Germanic dialects began to give additional meanings to their own forms of that term, as, for example, Old English had “feoh,” which meant “property, money,” besides the meaning “cattle,” Gothic had “faihu,” which meant “wealth, money,” Frankish had “fehu-od,” meaning “cattle-property” (literally "cattle wealth" or "wealthy in cattle"), Old Norse had “fe,” also meaning “cattle, money,” and Old High German had "fihu," meaning "cattle." The “cattle, money, property, wealth” connection is that if you owned cattle in those times, you had property, and therefore you were thought to have some wealth/money. Latin seemingly borrowed the term from Frankish (“fehu-od”) as “feudum” or “feodum,” which also had the connotation of “property given for service” (you can see the emerging meaning of modern “fee” in this), although Old Latin had a form of the original Indo European word “peku,” as “pecus” meant “cattle,” and “pecunia” meant “money” (and still does in modern Italian). Old French, a Latin-based language, had “fie/fieu,” and the Normans, who spoke a French dialect, brought their form of the term to England with their successful invasion in late 1066 A.D. The term “feudal” developed from the same word during those times, and “fee” did actually mean “a feudal estate” back then, although that meaning has now died out in English (William the Conqueror gave land to his Norman knights who helped him subdue England as his payment to them; thus “land for service”). Whether this meaning combined with the extended meaning (“money") of the similar and related Old English word, if it was even still around, is unclear to me, but it would make sense (maybe TOO MUCH sense), that we would then have the modern meaning of “money for service.” Modern German still has "Vieh," meaning "cattle" (the "V" is pronounced "F," [all German nouns are capitalized] the "ieh" is pronounced as a long "e," giving us a pronunciation much like the English word "fee").

The German Question, Part Two

The question, "who is a German," is important to history, because there have been so many wars fought around this central question over the centuries, the last being World War Two, although even the "Cold War" certainly had some of the German Question involved in it, too. The Germanic people(s) constituted a large group, and with this large group living in much of northern and central Europe, they held a key geographic location as other groups of people to the east migrated westward, or, like with the Romans, who tried to move northwards and eastwards from their established empire. As some of the Germanic tribes migrated southward and westward, they came into conflict with numerous Celtic tribes* which inhabited large areas of Europe prior to the rise of the Romans.** As Germanic elements moved south, they encountered the Celts in what is today southern Germany (Bavaria), Austria, and Switzerland. Eventually the Germanic elements won out, perhaps more through "absorbing" the Celts, rather than by destroying them militarily. This Germanic advance now put some of the Germanic tribes right up against the boundaries of the developing Roman Empire. Much the same happened in northwest Europe, as the Germanic tribes in that area pushed into Celtic occupied territory.

So, just to recap: we now have the various Germanic tribes dominating much of Scandinavia; that is, modern day Norway and Sweden, and also northern and central Europe, including modern day Denmark, Holland (the Netherlands), Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and large segments of Belgium, Switzerland, and Britain. The key thing is, however, while these tribes were Germanic, with similar customs and dialects (undoubtedly they could understand one another to varying degrees in those times), they did not necessarily act together, but individually, although confederations seem to have been likely at times, and gradually some tribes did consolidate into larger entities over time.

Gaul,*** long a part of the Roman Empire, bordered on the western areas of the Germanic tribes. The Romans pushed into these areas, but they found the Rhine River to be a formidable barrier and the Germanic warriors to be a tough lot. Eventually in 9 A.D., numerous Germanic tribal elements under the leadership of Arminius,^ virtually annihilated a large Roman force near present day Osnabrück, Germany, in what is known as "The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest" (Teutoburgerwald, in German). The Romans, by some historical accounts, suffered more than 20,000 casualties out of a force numbering perhaps 25,000. The Romans tried to regain the initiative and push across the Rhine, but after the resulting seven years of war with virtually no gains, they gave up the fight and accepted the Rhine River as the boundary between the Roman  Empire and the Germanic tribes. Many historians see this time frame, and especially the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D., as the start of "German" history, as in this case, these Germanic tribes cooperated in a common cause to defeat an invader, rather than to act as individual tribes. This seems to be the birth of German nationalism, although it would take centuries to mature, and during that time, it would cause much pain for Germans and other Europeans, and eventually for much of the world.
To be continued...... (A word history is after the notes)

* The Germanic elements that established settlements in England displaced the Celtic Britons, who had themselves been conquered a few hundred years before by the Romans. These Celtic people were actually "Romanized" Celts; that is, they had taken on much Roman culture, and indeed they relied upon the Roman military presence to protect them from invaders, including other "wild" Celtic elements in the north of the main island (essentially present day Scotland). As Rome declined, the Romans withdrew their military forces from Britain, leaving the area vulnerable to the Germanic invaders, many of whom first came and formed alliances with the existing population to protect the "Romanized" areas from those barbarians in the north. Many of the Germanic tribes were seafarers, as they inhabited coastal areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Some of their later descendants would become famous for their seafaring skills and raids, for they were known as the Vikings.

** The Celtic tribes were also Indo European, and they were the ancestors of the Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Bretons (of Brittany), to name perhaps their best known modern descendants.

*** Gaul was named after the Gauls (hmm, how strange), another Celtic group of people, and while certainly not exact, the area consisted of much of modern France.

^ "Arminius" was his Roman name, as he had been raised by the Romans, but returned to his Germanic tribe and led them against the Romans. He is known to Germans (now I am using "German," not Germanic) as "Hermann," which seems to have been how they rendered his Latin name in their own language. "Armin," a shortened version of the original, has been quite a common German male given name, although I don't know if that has still been true in recent decades.

 
WORD HISTORY:
Ago-This form of the word began to be used more frequently during the 1300s, a part of the Middle English period. It was the shortened form of the past participle of Old English verb "agan," with the "a" sound in both cases being long. The verb had the sense of "passing on, departing, moving along in time" (the "gan" part is really the same word as present day "gone"). Initially it was spelled "agone," a word still used in some dialects in England, but the shortened "ago" began to become proper from the time of William Caxton in the mid 1400s, the first known English printer of books, and thus a man who had a substantial influence on how we spell and speak English to this day. By the way, originally in English, "ago" was used BEFORE a given time, as for example, "ago two years," rather than our modern "two years ago." While German uses "vor" to express the same meaning in time expressions, it too goes before the given time: "Vor zwei Minuten," literally "fore two minutes," but actually, "two minutes ago." In case you hadn't noticed, "vor" is closely related to English "fore." The close German relative of "ago," is "ergehen," which means "to travel on, go forth."

The German Question, Part One

Slightly edited and updated, 6/28/2015

Historically, the “German Question” is simply, “Who is a German?” The answer has not been an easy one, but did the outcome of World War Two give us a definitive answer? This is the first of a multiple part series, and it is not an all encompassing and detailed history, but rather a basic history of people who are, or were, in some sense, called German. Some things are purely my own opinion; after all, this is "Pontificating." If you are an American, you should see something of a connection to the German attempts at unity over the centuries, as we have become so divided in recent times. If you are interested in this subject, there are tons of books in libraries around the world on various parts of German history, and certainly there are many articles available online, and there will be a list of sources I used at the end of the series.

First, we have to go back thousands of years to a group of people known to us in modern times as Indo Europeans (they did NOT use this term for themselves, nor did they even know this term, it is purely more modern). While there are varying opinions, the Indo Europeans likely lived in an area along or near the Black Sea. The theory is, they shared a common culture, including a common language, known to linguists as Proto Indo European. Language goes a long way toward giving us our identity, and thus groups of people from the past are often classified, to a great degree, by their language. As centuries passed some of these people wandered off in various directions. Their common language developed into dialects; that is, variations, which grew further and further apart from their original language and from the dialects of other groups that had split off, as time separated them from one another, and as they interacted with other peoples, even with other people of Indo European descent.* One of the split off groups came to be known as the Germanic people.** This group gradually developed a culture and distinct dialect of its own, forming new words (as all people do) as they encountered new things. Again, according to archaeologists, the Germanic people seem to have settled in much of northern Europe, perhaps initially in Scandinavia. The same process took place with the Germanic people as had taken place with their ancestor Indo Europeans; that is, some groups split off going their own separate ways, along with developing dialects that gradually became increasingly more difficult for other Germanic speakers to understand. Over the centuries, some of these Germanic groups migrated to distant lands like (using the modern names) Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, North Africa, and even possibly North America, and, of course they went to Britain, where they founded England.

English took on the Anglicized form “Germany” from the Roman name for the areas of northern Europe settled by the various Germanic tribes; that term being “Germania.” English speakers then naturally called the people of these areas “Germans.” This term has resulted in much confusion for many a speaker of English, as not everyone understands the difference between “German” and “Germanic.” For example, the Norwegians are Germanic, but they are NOT German. The English are Germanic, but they are NOT German. The Bavarians are German AND Germanic. The Germans do not call themselves “Germans;” that is, they don’t use a term derived from German or Germany, but rather they use “Deutsche,”*** which is really the same word as “Dutch,” (“duitsch” in Dutch) just one of many variations (from dialects) from long ago.^ The French call the Germans the “Allemande,” after the name of a specific Germanic tribe, the Allemanni/Alamanni (if only they had settled in Alabama/Alabami). The Italians call the Germans “tedesco,” which is their form of “Deutsche,” although it may not look quite so similar. The Finns call the Germans “Saxons,” again, after a specific Germanic tribe, part of which helped found England.

One thing to remember, as the ancient Germanic people (just as with people from the other groups mentioned in the note below) split off into various tribes, they did not necessarily see themselves as related, nor did they always cooperate with each other, even if their particular dialects were mutually intelligible. In fact, they often clashed, most likely over territory due to hunting and fishing (perhaps over farm land, but that more than likely came a bit later). Gradually some tribes established themselves as distinct entities: the Norwegians and the Swedes in Scandinavia. The other Germanic tribes in northwest and central Europe took a while longer to “sort themselves out.” Essentially a few tribes became dominant, as they either took over (as in “conquered”) other tribes, or they combined in confederations, perhaps to make them stronger militarily, or perhaps from marriages.

More in "Part Two" ... 


* What does this mean? Well, Americans do not speak English the way English is spoken in England, and not all people in England speak the same, nor do all Americans speak English the same. Time, geography, topography, climate, and contact with non-English speakers have changed the way Americans speak English vs. the English spoken in England. And this is after just a few hundred years. About a hundred years ago, some English language experts were very concerned that American English was changing and diverging so much from that of England, they feared that within a fairly short time Americans and Englishmen would not be able to understand one another. Of course, more modern communication, like radio and television, developed, keeping a common bond, and the fear of separate languages has subsided. Dialects that can essentially be understood by speakers of each are called “mutually intelligible.” For instance, people in New York City and Birmingham, Alabama speak English in their own particular ways, but they still can understand one another. When various Germanic tribal elements invaded Britain in the mid 400s (A.D.), most historians believe they could understand one another, more or less, although since there were no sound recorders from those times, no one knows that to be an absolute fact.

** The other major Indo European groups, besides Germanic, were: Greek, Celtic, Italic, Baltic, Slavic, Armenian, Albanian, Indic, Iranian, Tocharian, and Anatolian.

*** Pronounced “doytsh-eh,” which is plural: “Germans.” They call their language “Deutsch,” with no “e” at the end.

^ The variations are numerous, with some dialects having a “T” instead of a “D,” to start the word, and other dialects having “Tuutsch,” as well as other forms. See: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-we-call-them-these-names.html

WORD HISTORY:
Pamper-I did not find a history tracing this word back to any Indo European base, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one (see further). The word seems to have been borrowed during the mid to late 1300s from Low German "pampen" or "pampfen" (I found both), which meant "to cram with food," or perhaps Flemish (another Germanic language, spoken in Belgium, now seen more as a dialect of Dutch by many linguists), which had "pamperen," with the same basic meaning. Trade was quite common between England and the areas of northwest Europe, present day Holland and northern Germany, and words could easily be picked up from one language to another. Gradually the idea of cramming someone with food took on the notion of "overindulging someone, spoiling them." While I mentioned that I could not find a direct link to an Indo European base, some linguists "suggest" that it "could" be related to Latin "pappere," which meant "to eat (soft food);" so that we have "eating" involved in the Latin word, too, and "soft food," might lead to the notion of "pampering someone who is ill," if you get the drift, and indeed English got "pap" from the French "papa" ("watered down meal") in the 1400s, and it still seems to have limited use in England, meaning "food for babies." This word carries back to Latin "papilla," "nipple of a woman's breast," and eventually to the Indo European root "pap," meaning "to swell." To confuse matters a little more, English already had another word "pap," which also meant "nipple," which is assumed to have come from Old Norse around 1200, as Swedish dialect has "pappe." All of these words and forms in various languages are tough to resist as the ancestor of "pamper," and to me, the most interesting link is to Lithuanian, the language considered by many linguists to be the closest living European language to Indo European, which has "papas," which is not considered proper, but rather vulgar, and is equivalent to English "tits," or "titties." All of these forms have connections to "food," from the mother's nipple providing food to a baby, watered down or soft food, etc. It "could" be that the Germanic form just added the "m" sound for "pamper/pamperen."

Berlin Before The Wall Tumbled, Germany, Part Two

I spent about a week in Berlin back in the mid 1980s. Berlin is certainly one of the world’s great cities, and at that time, the city was still divided by the famous, or infamous, “Berlin Wall.” For those unaware, following Hitler’s defeat in 1945, Germany was divided into occupation zones, with the Soviets, British, French and Americans each administering a zone. Berlin, the capitol and largest city, was a special case, in that it too was divided into occupation zones. The city had been captured by the Soviets in a bloody battle in the waning days of the war. During that episode, nutcase Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker, the German military authorities surrendered the city just a couple of days later, and Germany surrendered about a week after that.

Berlin was located within the Soviet occupation zone, and the Soviets retained control over the eastern part of the city, which included the former government section, which dated back well before the Nazis came to power. This meant that the western part of the city was essentially an island in a Soviet controlled area. With the establishment of two German governments, one in western Germany, and oddly known to most Americans as “West Germany,” and one in eastern Germany, and known to most Americans as “East Germany” (hmm, DARN, wonder why we called them these names???). East Berlin became the capitol of East Germany, known officially as the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR), but with West Berlin surrounded by the Communist dominated East Germany, the free part of the city was not a practical location for the West German capitol, which was established in Bonn. The official name of West Germany was the Federal Republic (of) Germany (Bundes Republik Deutschland, or BRD).*

The so called “Cold War” brought great tensions between the Soviet Union, along with the Communist dominated nations of eastern Europe, and the United States and much of western Europe. Over the next couple of decades, Germans fled the Communist “East” to the “West.” The continued loss of many highly talented, well-educated people became so serious for East Germany, that in the early 1960s, the East German government (certainly supported by, or coerced by, the Soviets) built a wall along the border between East and West Berlin, and between East and West Germany. It was a bit surreal for me, and probably many Americans visiting Germany, to see “the Wall,” along with barbed wire and guard towers, where heavily armed guards watched just about every move along the border areas. Communist propaganda announced early on that the wall had been built to keep aggressors out, but such talk fooled no one, including most East Germans (except those in denial of reality), and people knew the wall had been erected to keep East Germans from moving to the West. It was a terrible time, as many German families and friends were divided from one another. I don’t recall the actual number of Germans killed trying to escape over, under or around the wall. Every successful escape was proclaimed as a victory in the West, and every failed attempt, and especially if it ended in death, was cause for solemn moments. Eventually, West Germans erected tall crosses (and maybe other symbols, I just forget) to commemorate those who lost their lives trying to flee East Berlin (not sure about other border parts of Germany), and flowers were commonly brought by visitors to add their own remembrances. When I was in Berlin, there were large platforms on the western side, where folks could look over into Communist East Berlin.

I traveled by train from Frankfurt am Main to Hamburg, and then from Hamburg into East Germany and then into West Berlin. At the East German border I had to purchase a special transit visa to traverse East German territory to get to West Berlin. The East German authorities had learned much about escape attempts, and barbed wire entanglements were strung along the rail lines for maybe about a mile beyond the checkpoints to prevent East Germans from jumping aboard a train just before it entered West Berlin or West Germany. This would give them time to halt the train and search for the “offender.”

During the train ride through East German territory, I was naturally asked for my passport and transit visa, and the East German official simply asked why I was in Germany. I was in a compartment with a young West German from the Heidelberg area, if I remember right, and a middle-aged West German couple (I forget where they were from), but the husband was a teacher. When I arrived in West Berlin I had to find a place to stay, and I went to a little kiosk that provided info about the city for a fee. An old, heavy-set Berliner who reminded me of “W.C. Fields" gave me directions. I remember that at first I asked him in German if he spoke English. When it comes to business, I thought it best to conduct it in English, but he looked at me after my first German utterances and said, “Warum wollen Sie Englisch sprechen? Sie sprechen aber fantastisches Deutsch.” (“Why do you want to speak English? You speak fantastic German.”) I have to admit, that was a great compliment that did loads for my ego, and it was not the last compliment I received in Berlin, for a few days later when I went to the train station to purchase my return ticket to Frankfurt in advance, a little guy, reeking of alcohol, came up to me. He was looking for a hand out to quench his thirst, which obviously required a hell of a lot of quenching, and I swear, I got a hangover from just breathing in the fumes. In our little exchange (in German), he said to me, in German, “You must be from near Frankfurt?” I simply answered that I wasn’t. He said, “Well…you talk like someone from that area of Hessen.” Again folks, this is a major compliment. Germans love to talk about their language, and they are very proud of it. Proper German is difficult, as the grammar is enough to drive the sanest person towards insanity (far more complicated than English grammar). English and German are close cousins, but part of what separates the two languages is that English has “simplified,” for lack of a better term, from the Middle Ages, but German has retained many of the common characteristics the two languages shared back in those times. For instance, while we certainly still understand “thy” and “thine,” they are not a part of our every day speech any longer, but rather are relegated to old texts, often, but not exclusively, religious in nature, or spoken in plays, such as Shakespeare, which were written back in that era. German has retained these two terms, as “dein” (pronounced like “dine”=”thine”) and the improper (in standard German) “dei” (pronounced like “die/dye”=”thy”), used often in certain German dialects.

Right along the western side of the wall in central Berlin stood the former German Parliament building, the Reichstag. In early 1933, just after Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany, the building suffered a major fire started by the Nazis.** The former government sector of Berlin, including the various offices and buildings from the Nazi Era, at least any that still survived at that time, were in East Berlin, including Hitler’s bunker. Most, but not all, of the buildings from that time had been torn down, as most had been extensively damaged during the war.

More in “Part Three-Wiesbaden” (A word history is below the notes)

*While these separate German governments were established, along with military forces for each, the four occupation zones remained in existence, and thus the “Allied Powers” remained in military control of the two Germanys.

** I haven’t kept up with all of the information in more recent times, but for quite some time historians debated who actually started the fire. I’m sure there is plenty of info available for those interested, but with the caveat that this is from my recollection, there was a tunnel leading to the basement area of the Reichstag from the President of the Reichstag’s office building, which I believe was just across the street. The tunnel had been there for quite some time, giving private entry to the building for the president, and it was not a Nazi invention. The President of the Reichstag when the fire occurred was Hermann Göring, one of Hitler’s closest friends and associates, and a leading Nazi. Supposedly Hitler knew nothing of the fire plot, but, urged on by Göring and Propaganda Minister, Josef Goebbels, he used the fire to order a major crackdown on political opponents, having many a person shipped off to early concentration camps. The Nazis claimed the fire had been started by a halfwit Communist (or Communist sympathizer). Some historians believe that the Nazis had a stroke of good luck on the night of the fire, as they feel the Nazi claim that this man was found inside the Reichstag with flammable materials was true, and that indeed he had intended to start a fire, and may have even done so, but that the main fire was far too extensive for a one man job (the Reichstag is a huge building). Whatever the truth, this man provided the Nazis with cover, and the “culprit” was quickly tried and executed, certainly removing any chance of him telling his story. The Reichstag was so severely damaged (even its huge domed top collapsed), that future meetings of the legislative body (still called the Reichstag) were moved to the Kroll Opera House (German=Kroll Oper), and indeed, for those of you who have watched the historical footage in newsreels from the Nazi era, it was in the Kroll Opera House that Hitler gave many a speech, including his announcement of the attack on Poland on September 1, 1939, which launched World War Two. Within a short while of the fire, the legislative body became nothing but a Nazi rubber stamp for Hitler’s policies, eventually containing only Nazi Party members.

WORD HISTORY:
Heave-This word, related to "have," traces back to Indo European "kahp," which meant "seize, take." The Old Germanic offshoot was "khabjan/khafjan," which seems to have had the added notion of lifting or raising (when taking). This gave Old English "hebban," which meant "to lift, to raise." As the spelling changed over time, the word also took on the additional meaning of "throw," with the idea being that the object required a good deal of "lift" to throw it. That idea was also behind the notion of vomiting, as the stomach contents were "lifted and then then expelled." The familiar expression "heave-ho," came from nautical terminolgy, with the meaning "lift" still much in evidence. German has "heb(en)," Low German has "heven," Dutch has "heffen," Icelandic has "hefja," Danish has " hæve," Norwegian "heve," and Swedish has "häva," all with some meaning of  "to lift, to raise, to hoist, to heave."