Oct 11, 2021
1 mins read
Welcome to my new series of German words in the (American) English language.
Because English and German are both Germanic languages there are many cognates; meaning that words in German and English are related and you can guess the meaning.
Examples are:
๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป - ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ
๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ - ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐๐น๐ฒ - ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น
However, there are words in English that have been taken directly from German and kept the German spelling. We call these words loanwords (which interestingly is a direct translation of the German โ๐๐ฒ๐ต๐ป๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐โ.)
The words I chose for today are words about food since it is #foodfriday . In German these words would be capitalized because they are nouns.
๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐๐, ๐ฝ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐น, ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐, ๐๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป, ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป, ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐น, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ผ๐ต๐น๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ have the same meaning in English and German.
The only outlier is โdelicatessenโ. The German word โ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ปโ is itself a loan word from French which comes from Italian and Latin. It refers to expensive and exquisite food like caviar, oysters, exotic fruits, high quality salads, etc. It is food you donโt eat every day but on special occasions. The other German word that can be used is โ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐ผ๐๐โ which can be roughly translated as โfine foodโ.
In America, a โ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถโ (the short form of โdelicatessenโ) has a broader meaning and can be found as stand alone small store or as a section in a grocery store. You can buy cold cuts there, prepared sandwiches, and salads. Depending on the region and the ethnicity of the owner and the customers you can finds delis catering to the Italian, Greek, or Jewish community.
The American equivalent to a German Delikatessen store would be a gourmet food store.
