The idea of Luftschlösser bauen runs parallel to an old French expression (recorded in the 13th century) faire des châteaux en Espagne , “to make castles in Spain” (i.e., a difficult task in a country you don’t rule). Not every word is recognizable outside its relevant context. Some, such as wurstand pumpernickel, retain German connotations, while others, such as lagerand hamburger, retain none. We all have hopes and dreams, but if your dreams are extravagant, you might be accused of Luftschlösser bauen, or “building castles in the air.” The German verb bauen means to “build.” Das Luftschloss (plural die Luftschlösser) is a “daydream” or “pipe dream,” but it literally means “air castle” ( Luft is “sky,” Schloss is “castle”). German terms commonly used in Englishedit Most of these words will be recognized by many English speakers they are commonly used in English contexts. Amazingly, Fallon correctly guessed the meaning. Waldeinsamkeit made its way into American transcendentalism, which also praised the spirituality of the individual and nature. In 1858, for instance, Ralph Waldo Emerson published a poem called “Waldeinsamkeit” in The Atlantic Monthly about how much he loved being in the forest, removed from the crises and considerations of society.įast forward to the Februepisode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where German-Austrian actor Christoph Waltz quizzed Jimmy Fallon on “long German words,” including Waldeinsamkeit. Attested in German by at least 1822, the word is closely associated with Romanticism, a literary movement that idealized emotion, nature, individualism, and the imagination. The origins of Waldeinsamkeit clue us into its lyrical meaning. Together, Waldeinsamkeit literally translates to “solitude in the forest,” but that literal translation loses much of the word’s poetry. Waldeinsamkeit combines Wald (“wood”) and Einsamkeit (“loneliness”). So, we think it would be wunderbar (“wonderful”) if English embraced these nine (not nein!) German gems. German is also famous for what are sometimes called untranslatables: single words whose definitions are wonderfully specific or complex enough that, when translated into another language, they require numerous words to express the same idea.īut, many of these intimidating German terms actually pack in some truly amazing concepts-all in a single word. What’s more, many familiar English words, from angst to kindergarten to schadenfreude, are borrowed directly from German. Historically, the two languages are closely related in core vocabulary (compare English arm and German der Arm), sound system, and structure (if we look at Old English grammar). But, it’s easy to forget that English is a Germanic language. German can indeed be daunting to English speakers, with its mile-long mouthfuls like Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaft (“a legal protection insurance company”). As Mark Twain famously wrote in a hilarious 1880 essay about his struggle to learn German: “A person who has not studied German can form no idea of what a perplexing language it is.”

German words in english translation