Happy August to all my friends and readers
New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch
"Rückkehr von der Ausfahrt auf der Hanse Sail"
New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch
"Rückkehr von der Ausfahrt auf der Hanse Sail"
"Return from the Outing on the Hanse Sail"
Boats are just beautiful, aren't they? No matter whether it's an ocean liner or a sailboat, a longboat, a barge, a junk, a frigate or a yacht. I could watch them for hours. Not that I would love to take my entire holidays on them like my brother and his wife who bought themselves one for their retirement. But boats belong to the sea and the sea is beautiful.
And this picture even includes two boats and a lighthouse. I will look at it all month long and wish to be near the sea. But just seeing the picture makes me smile already.
* * *
My German word for the month is
zappenduster
We love compound words (as I explained last month: Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher.) This time, we have "zappen" which probably comes from "Zapfenstreich" which means military curfew.
The "Zapfen" is the spigot which is put in the bunghole of the wine barrel when it is closed and the serving is ended.
Another theory is that "Zapfen" comes from the Hebrew word "Tsafón" (צָפוֹן) which means north and therefore midnight.
Both ideas seem plausible. The Yiddish language has taken a lot of words from German and the same applies the other way around.
The second part, "duster" (pronounced like "dooster") means "dark" from the German word "düster" (duster is a colloquial version).
So, you could say "Es ist zappenduster" and you mean it's very dark, pitch black. But we also use it figuratively. You can also mean a situation is serious, hopeless, nothing can get worse.
* * *
We had some hot spells in July but not as bad as in some areas in Germany, so I won't complain. Let me just say this: I hope that August will be milder.
* * *
Still no good news from our Ukrainian friends. I can only say, the whole world fears with you and hopes for a good end of this terrible ordeal.
🇺🇦 З Днем Народження! 🇺🇦
(Best wishes!)
* * *
Have a happy August with this beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch.
You can find many more wonderful pictures on their website here.
You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about them.
* * *
My German word for the month is
zappenduster
We love compound words (as I explained last month: Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher.) This time, we have "zappen" which probably comes from "Zapfenstreich" which means military curfew.
The "Zapfen" is the spigot which is put in the bunghole of the wine barrel when it is closed and the serving is ended.
Another theory is that "Zapfen" comes from the Hebrew word "Tsafón" (צָפוֹן) which means north and therefore midnight.
Both ideas seem plausible. The Yiddish language has taken a lot of words from German and the same applies the other way around.
The second part, "duster" (pronounced like "dooster") means "dark" from the German word "düster" (duster is a colloquial version).
So, you could say "Es ist zappenduster" and you mean it's very dark, pitch black. But we also use it figuratively. You can also mean a situation is serious, hopeless, nothing can get worse.
* * *
We had some hot spells in July but not as bad as in some areas in Germany, so I won't complain. Let me just say this: I hope that August will be milder.
* * *
Still no good news from our Ukrainian friends. I can only say, the whole world fears with you and hopes for a good end of this terrible ordeal.
🇺🇦 З Днем Народження! 🇺🇦
(Best wishes!)
* * *
Have a happy August with this beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch.
You can find many more wonderful pictures on their website here.
You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about them.
That painting is amazing! I love pictures with boats and lighthouses.
ReplyDeleteSo do I, Lark. They are the best!
DeleteOcean liners are great. Interesting word zappenduster. We have the word 'dyster' in Swedish which means the same.
ReplyDeleteI've never been on an ocean liner, Lisbeth. The largest boat I've been on is problaby the Ulysses which took us to Ireland years ago. Pretty large, though.
DeleteYes, "dyster" is pronounced the same as "düster", as I'm sure you know. And since our languages are related, it makes it so much easier to learn and compare than some others.
Happy August! That is such a pretty painting.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your mini German lesson, too. Nearly all of my ancestors come from Germany and France, but I don’t speak either of those languages. Maybe I’ll study them after I become fluent in Spanish. :)
Thanks, Lydia. I absolutely love those paintings. I've had that calendar for ages, every year there are new and wonderful paintings, though my favourites are the ones from the sea. And landscapes by the sea, but I also love the other ones.
DeleteI try to bring something interesting in my monthly message and I know how fascinated most people are by the length some German words can reach and that we can just put stuff together.
I don't know whether you use Duolingo already. It's a great way of learning and using a language. I can highly recommend it.
And if you have questions about the German language, you know whom to ask.
Yes, I do use Duolingo. It’s amazing.
DeleteThank you for your generous offer. I’ll let you know when I start studying German. :)
You're welcome, Lydia. I feel extremely blessed that I was able to learn so many languages and I am always happy to share what I know. More or less give back what others have done for me.
Delete