Charlotte Walters '24 | German Language Gains 1,200 New Terms

DW

Over the past year, roughly 1,200 new German words inspired by the COVID-19 Pandemic were coined by German speakers. As a result of the events of the past year, new language additions surpassed the average coinage of 200 recorded terms per year. The Leibniz Institute for the German Language (IDS), an organization that researches and documents developments in the German language, compiled a comprehensive list citing the meaning and first use of each term in the media. These words reflect the trends of the German language to combine nouns into new words, utilize abbreviations, and borrow from English. Globally, vocabularies experienced a transformation in the past year, creatively displaying cultural and political attitudes. The pandemic reality required new words to express the oddities of life that became the new normal. I have included a few interesting examples of new German terms below:

• Drawing from English, “overzoomed” and “gelockdownt” were used to discuss Zoom fatigue and the lockdown.

• To indicate a face mask, words that combined existing words such as “Spuckschutzschirm” (read literally, spit protection umbrella), “Schnuttenpulli” (snout sweater), “Mundschutzmode” (mouth protection fashion), “Alltagsmaske” (every day mask), or “Gesichtskondom” (face condom) have been utilized.

• “Abstandsbier,” literally meaning distance beer, is used to describe having a socially distanced beer. “Abstand,” meaning distance, was combined with numerous nouns to speak about distanced activities. 

• “Distanzunterricht” describes virtual learning and connotes the struggles that accompany it. 

• “Impfdrängler,” directly translating to vaccine cheats, describes someone who prematurely and unfairly received their vaccine amid Germany’s slow vaccine rollout. On the same topic, “Impfneid,” or vaccine jealousy, also arose to describe envy of someone else having the vaccine.

• “Fußgruß” directly translates to foot greeting to describe a safer alternative to hand shaking.

• “Kuschelkontakt,” literally meaning cuddle contact, implies that someone has designated contact with a person who they are living or isolating with.

While living under a pandemic has had many repercussions, the development of vocabularies displays interesting facets of the evolution of language and creative expression. More detailed descriptions of each new term can be found in the Leibniz Institute Website.