Some Memories of Germany, Bus Tour To Heidelberg, Part 7

In the late 1980s I took a bus tour to Heidelberg, which is located on the Neckar River in the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. One of the main places to visit in Heidelberg is the "Heidelberger Schloss" (Heidelberg Castle/Palace), some parts of which are about 700 years old. It sits just above the main part of the city. I bought a print of the castle when I was there, and I have it on my wall to this day.  

WORD HISTORY:
Sorrow-In spite of the similarity, "sorrow" is not related to "sorry." It goes back to Indo European "swergh," the initial notion of which may have had to do with sickness, as some non Germanic relatives had forms tied to that meaning (for example, Old Irish had "serg"=sickness). From the idea of sickness came the idea of, "to care for, to worry over." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "sorgh," with that meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sorg/sorh," meaning "terrible worry, grief," which then became "sorwe" (the "e" was pronounced "eh/ah"), which then became the modern form. Old English also had the verb form "sorgian," which meant "to worry, to care, to grieve." The other Germanic languages have: German "Sorge" (noun), meaning "worry, concern," and more rarely, "sorrow," but also "care," and a verb form, "sorgen," meaning "to worry, to care for, to look after;" Low German Saxon "Sorg," meaning "worry, care," and the verb form "sorgen," meaning "to care for;" Dutch "zorg," meaning "care, worry;" West Frisian "soarch" (in compounds), meaning "care;" Danish "sorg," meaning "grief, sorrow;" Norwegian "sorg," meaning "grief, mourning;" Swedish "sorg," meaning "grief, sadness;" and Icelandic "sorg," meaning "sorrow, grief."

Some Memories of Germany, Photos & Materials, 6B

This is part "B" of the photos and materials section. There will be more articles about castles and Heidelberg as a part of the overall series, with their own pictures.

This is a business card for a Viennese tavern/bar specializing in the most recently produced wine (they sold beer too). The top says, "A little piece of Vienna in the heart of Berlin"

This is the back of the business card. The top line notes, "Austrian charm and good times."

These are business cards from two hotels in Frankfurt where a friend of mine was the manager. He first managed the Hotel Union on Münchenerstraße near the main train station in Frankfurt. Later he worked at the Lian-Yi, a Chinese government owned hotel on Niddastraße, a few blocks from from the train station.

This is a post card I bought in Berlin showing various aspects of "Die Mauer" (The Wall). "Mauer" is derived from the same Latin source as English "mural." You can see the guard towers, where heavily armed soldiers tried to prevent anyone from escaping East Berlin. In the center is one of the wooden platforms on the West Berlin side of wall, where people could look over into East Berlin.

This is another post card I bought, due to the great clarity and quality of the picture. It is the Reichstag building in the 1980s. This was the former German parliament/Congress building. Since reunification, it is again in use, extensively renovated, as Berlin is again the capital.

This is the Reichstag building in 1929; that is, about four years before Hitler took power. Within a short time of Hitler becoming chancellor, the Reichstag building was set on fire and was badly damaged. It was never used again as a legislative meeting building until after German reunification. The Nazis moved the Reichstag legislative sessions, often just forums for Hitler's speeches, to the nearby Kroll Opera House (badly damaged in World War II and then torn down). For more on the Reichstag fire, see my article at this link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/01/berlin-before-wall-tumbled.html

These are the German and English version of the menu for one of my flights from Frankfurt back home..

German and English version of the menu for another flight.

WORD HISTORY:
Wield-This word, meaning "use power well, to use and control something with great skill," goes back to Indo European "wal-dh," which had the notion of "be strong," and was an expanded form of Indo European "wal." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "waldan," meaning "to control, to rule." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "wealdan," which meant "to rule, to direct," and the also the form "wieldan," which meant "to control." From these two forms came the single form "wield." The only other forms still used in the Germanic languages are: German "walten" (to rule") and the derived "verwalten" (to administer, to manage), and Swedish "vålla" (cause, basis; from the notion 'controlling idea, decisive reason').

Some Memories of Germany, Photos & Materials, Part 6A

These are some pictures and materials I have from various trips to Germany in the 1980s. When applicable to previous articles I've done, I have supplied the link to that article. To keep these manageable, I'm going to do this in two parts, which I'm labeling "6A" and "6B."

 This is one of the "transit visas" I had to purchase to travel through East Germany. (Front). I did another article about Berlin:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2010/01/berlin-before-wall-tumbled.html

 This is the other side of the travel visa, showing I'm from the "USA" and with the validation stamp of the "DDR" (Deutsche Demokratische Republik," German Democratic Republic, the official name of East Germany). For some information about my Berlin trip, see:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/12/some-memories-of-germany.html

 This was a folding card showing my room number at the "Hotel zur Alten Post" in Hamburg.

 The front of a brochure for the Hotel zur Alten Post, with the bottom bold print saying, "Hearty Welcome To Hamburg"

 Some of the inside of the hotel brochure.

 This is a sugar packet from the "Wienerwald" Restaurant in Frankfurt (now closed)

 This is a sugar packet from the "Dippegucker Restaurant" in Frankfurt, which had two locations. I may be a sugar thief, but I'm a "sweet" sugar thief.

 This is a business card for the hotel (Springmann) where I stayed in Berlin. The man who booked the room for me underlined the address. For some info on "Bleibtreustrasse," see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-street-in-berlin.html

 

 This is a 10 Mark note. The Mark is no longer in use, as Germany now uses the Euro. The Mark's value as compared to American money varied according to the exchange rate on any given day. Back in part of the 1980s, the American dollar was pretty strong, making it cheaper for Americans to travel to Germany, which was really a major thing back in those times, as we had tens of thousands of military personnel stationed in (West) Germany, plus thousands more in support personnel, and many military personnel had family members actually live in Germany to be close to them. While all of this sounds good, one of the downsides to the strong dollar was that American exports TO Germany became much more expensive for people in Germany to buy, thus hurting American businesses trying to sell products in Germany, and it made travel from Germany to the U.S. more expensive, thus hurting the American tourist business.  

 A five Mark coin, a 2 Mark coin, and then a 1 Mark coin and a 5 Pfennig coin.

The other side of the same coins. Again, none of this money is in use anymore.

WORD HISTORY:
Tide-This word, related to "time," goes back to Indo European "di/da," which had the notion of "divide, separate into pieces." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "tidiz," meaning "period of time." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tid" (long "i"), meaning "period of time, season, feast or festival time/hour," and later, "religious hour, time of prayer." "Christmastide" still shows the word with one of its original meanings. The word later became "tide," but the ending "e" was pronounced as "eh/ah," as this was before the final "e" was used to show that the interior vowel was long. In the 1300s, the word came to be used for "rising and falling of the seas," a meaning which seems to have come from close relative Low German "tit/getide," later "Tide," which meant "time," but also had the "rise and fall of the the seas" meaning, a meaning also passed onto High German. The other Germanic languages have forms, but most mean "time," although some additional forms mean "tide:" German has "Zeit" (time), but also "Gezeiten" ("tide," originally just "Gezeit"), Low German Saxon has "Tied" (tide) and "Tiet" (time), Dutch has "tijd" (time) and "tij" (tide), West Frisian has "tiid" (time), Danish and Norwegian have "tid" (meaning period of time, but they also have "time," pronounced "tee-ma," meaning "hour"), Icelandic has "tið" (tið=tith, seemingly now little used, meaning "period of time"), Swedish has "tid" (period of time).