Stress the German-English Cognates!
Author(s): Carl Hammer, Jr.
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Apr., 1957), pp. 177-182
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers
Associations
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/320994 .
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Stressthe German-English
Cognates!
HIS CompendiousGermanGrammar(first twofoldsurvey:first,of elementaryand interIN
publishedin 1869)' William Dwight Whit- mediategrammarsand readersnowin use, with
ney wrote:"It is the properdutyofa German- regardto theirtreatmentofcognates;secondly,
English dictionaryto point out in detail the oftherolewhichrelatedwordsplaynumerically
English words which are to be regarded as on the lower instructionallevels. Frequency
identical,or of kindredelements,withGerman listsformthe basis ofthisstudy.
words (a duty sought to be fulfilledin the
All the beginninggrammarsexamined apvocabularyof the author's 'German Reader'). peared within the years 1931-1955 and are
are thirty-four
But no small part of the correspondences
in number. Of these, twenty-one
readilyto be discoveredby thestudenthimself, show specificconsiderationof cognates; the
especiallyif his researchesare guided at first other thirteendo not mention them at all.
by a judicious and enlightenedteacher."2
Among eleven beginners'books of the last
How are our teachersof Germanin thisage decade, eight give some presentationof the
ofevermorereducedhoursforlanguagecourses kindred elements. In justice to two shorter
that duty? Many, no doubt, are so German grammarsin the negative group of
fulfilling
doingwiththejudiciousnessurgedby Whitney; thirteen,it should be stated that they are inothers,thereis reason to believe,are slighting, tendedforuse in conjunctionwithelementary
if not virtuallyignoring,this importantphase readers which emphasizecognate forms.Two
of Germaninstruction.
conversationalmanuals (out of six) contain a
Yet it requiresverylittletime and effortto suitableintroductionto the subject.
tell one's students,at the firstmeetingof the
Out of eighteenreview grammars,secondclass, the historical facts of a relationship year books,and compositiontextspublishedin
partly obvious, partlysomewhatobscuredby the period 1927-1954 (but mostlydatingfrom
sound changes. One should explain how the the 1930's), fivedevote attentionto cognates.
ancestorsof a large part of the people of Eng- Naturally,everyreferencegrammarworthyof
land came about 1500 years ago fromwhat is the name musttreatthe relationof Germanto
now northwestGermanyand Schleswig-Hol- English; such is the case withall those in the
stein; how fromthe dialectsof those Teutonic list of seven consulted,rangingfromthe older
down
Anglesand Saxons (with the later additionof worksof Whitneyand Joynes-Meissner5
certainScandinavian,Middle Dutch, and Mid- to that of JohnPaul von Grueningen.6
dle Low German elements) modern English
Coming to the readers,elementaryand inspeechdescends;how,despitethe superimposi- termediate,we find that eight out of fifteen
tion of a large amountof vocabularyborrowed concernthemselveswith cognates; two of the
fromLatin, Greek,and French,the language others are meant to be accompanied by beremainsessentiallyGermanic-almost entirely ginners' grammars which illustrate kindred
so in the grammarand accent,and to a great aspects of German and English. Among six
extentin its stock of basic words.Appropriate
1New York: Henry Holt & Co.; the edition here quoted
exampleson the blackboardwill help formthe
appeared in 1888.
earliest
of
German.
Conpupil's
impressions
2 Ibid., p. 264.
tinued referenceto this relation can prove
s Cf. C. Rudolf Goedsche, "A First German Lesson for
stimulatingand of great practicalvalue.3Fur- College Students," GQ, V (1932), 153-160.
4See Lee M. Hollander's article, "Some Syntactic Analthermore,the beginner apparently has an
between English and German," GQ, XXV, 88-92.
increasingly
good chanceofstudyinga textbook ogies
6 A German Grammarfor Schools and
Colleges,Boston:
whichwill initiatehis conceptionof that most D. C.
Heath, 1887.
fundamentalkinship.'
6 A Graded ReferenceGrammarfor Students of German,
The presentarticle offersthe findingsof a New York: Prentice-Hall, 1938.
177
178
CARL HAMMER, JR.
culturalreaders,threelay emphasison cognate a small numberof Germanwordsdirectlyborrelationship,while fourbooks out of thirteen rowed by Englishwithinrecenttimes,such as
containing scientific and other specialized Blitz, Kaiser, Lied, Marchen, Mark, Reich,
readingstake notice of the problem.Finally, Reichstag, "strafe" (from strafen), Weltanseveral widely-usedschool editions of recent schauung,Wurst(as in "liverwurst"),etc. At
Germanstoriesincludeexerciseson cognates.' least 160 of the basic termsare international
in
Of course, this list of about one hundred character,being possessed in common with
textbooks for beginners' and intermediate English and, in the majority of instances,
Germanis by no meansexhaustive,but it rep- readilydistinguishableas foreignadditions to
resentsa goodlyproportionof those published the essentiallyGermanicvocabulariesof both
in the last two decades and embraces the tongues. They are almost exclusively loanmajorityof elementarygrammarsfrom that words from the Classical and Romance lanonehalfofthenumber guages,but the numberdoes not includesuch
period.In approximately
attentionis calledin somemanner cognate pairs of Latin origin as Pflanzeinvestigated,
to thesisterhoodofGermanand English.There "plant" and StraBe--"street,"whichearlybeis a broad diversityof presentations,
extending came Germanizedor Anglicized,as the case
froma few lines of explanation,with a small maybe (theborrowings
citedantedatetheHigh
numberofexamples,to elaborate,systematized GermanSound Shift).
Two somewhat more extensive frequency
expositionscoveringseveral pages or (as in
some reference
lists show ratios comparable to the MSGV,
grammars)a wholechapter.
Some books indicate cognatesin the lesson namely, A Standard German Vocabularyof
vocabulary,eitherby italics,or bold-facedtype, 2932 Wordsand 1500 Idioms,by C. M. Purin,"
or in parentheses.They are shownin the main and the CordonGermanWordbook,
compiledby
texts,one ofwhich Karl Reuning, W. R. Gaede, and Wilhelm
glossaryofa fewelementary
also has a readinglessonsettingforththe rela- Hubben.22 Of the 2932 main entries (listed
tionshipof Germanto English.8
aphabetically)in the former,about 1493, or
How far is this emphasison fundamentally not quite 51%, are thoroughlycognate.Purin
related words justifiedfromthe viewpointof had omitteda lot of identicalor easily recognumbers? The Minimum Standard German nizable foreignderivativeswhichare retained
editedin dictionaryformby B. Q. by the MSGV. Many less obvious cognates
Vocabulary,
Morgan and Walter Wadepuhl,9 contains are pointedout. The Cordonlist of morethan
around 2150 basic wordsor stemsregardedas 5500 entriesfollowsa like practice regarding
theleast requisitefora four-year
highschoolor the omissionof especiallyfrequentor readily
a two-yearcollege course. Of those 2150 en7 E.g., ErichKRstner,
editedby
EmilunddieDetektive,
tries,1191 have cognatesin English,according
New York:Henry
to the writer'scount.That meansthat the pro- LilianL. Stroebeand RuthHofrichter,
Holt & Co., 1933(Revised,1945); and PeterOlman,Der
portionof kinshipamongthe main headingsis Onkelaus Amerika,
editedby MiriamVan DyckHespelt,
558
derivatives
About
approximately55%.
1940.
New York: Prentice-Hall.
to
items
8
increase the total of whollykindred
ShorterGermanReading
Morgan and Strothmann,
Boston:Ginn,1952.
1749,or 38% of some4600 in the entirevocab- Grammar,
9New York: F. S. Crofts,1939. The MSGV usually
ulary.Of the 1018starredwordsconsideredthe
fortwo yearsof Germanin indicatescognatesonlyinsofaras theyare equivalentin
lowestrequirement
as wellas in origin.
meaning
highschool or one year in college,no less than
10Thus,thecompounds
and "forego"aretreatvergehen
claim
can
over
or
English ed as whollycognate,whileverstehen
68%,
694,
slightly
and "understand,"
addedtothesamebasicstem,may
cognates. These figures,be it noted, referal- havingdifferent
prefixes
mostwithoutexceptionto thoselistingswhich be consideredpartiallyrelated.Etymologically
speaking,
whichhas a difwouldcall forunterstehen,
fullyin theiretymologicalconstitu- "understand"
correspond
verb.Compare,however,
as an inseparable
meaning
ents (regardlessof present-dayequivalence of ferent
and "standunder."
theseparableformunterstehen
are
which
others
to
the
"
many
meaning)'0-not
Boston: D. C. Heath, 1937. Some 2000 derivatives
partiallyakinand whichwouldnoticeablyswell increasetheentirestockto nearly5000words.
12New York:The CordonCompany,1938.
the percentage.Neitherdoes the countinclude
STRESS THE GERMAN-ENGLISH COGNATESI
179
Honig-honey;sagengestern-yester(day);
identifiedwords,with the resultthat those of g-y
say; Weg--way
commonparentagewithEnglishnumberabout
j-y
ja-yea; Jahr-year;jung-young
2246, i.e., just short of 41%. As in Purin's k-c
kommen-come;
kinnen(kann)--can;Kraftword-countand the MSGV itself,partial relacraft
k-ch
KHse--cheese;
Kinn--chin;Kirche--church
tionshipwouldaccountfora highertotal.
Nummer-number
Passing now to fourshortervocabularies,we mm-mb dumm--dumb;
Apfel-apple;Kopf--cup;Pfenning-penny
ascertain that Peter Hagboldt's basic list of pf-p
war-was
trieren-freeze;
1000 entries"'includes 705 cognates,therefore r-z(s)
s-t
aus-out; was-what
above 70%. Of the 400 words designatedby sch-s
schmecken--smack;
Schwein--swine;
schwimArnoldA. Ortmann"as occurringmost often,
men--swim
at least 300, or 75%, are related. The anony- sch-sh Busch-bush; Fisch-fish
besser-better; fressen-fret;bassen--hate;
mouslyeditedCompactGermanVocabulary
(2000 ss-t(t)
Wasser-water
has about 1315kindredterms,orbetter
words)16
beia3en-bite; Nu3--nut; weii3-white
3--t
than 65% of the whole. Finally,it seems per- t(t)-d
Bett-bed; bitten-bid;Blatt-blade; Gotttinent to considerthe earlier compilationof
god; hart-hard;Wort-word
Katze-cat; setzen-set; sitzen--sit
AlbertA. M6ras and Maude Miller,16 formu- tz-t
v-f
Vater-father;Vieh-fee; Volk-folk; vorlated on a different
plan beforethe numerous
fore
word-countsof the 1920's and 1930's. Among z-t
Herz--heart;kurz--curt;Salz--salt; zehnits 2000 items,1140 (exactly57%) are cognates.
ten
From the above finding,varyingfrom38%
It
will
observedthat many of the forebe
to 75%, dependingon the kind and extentof
the frequencylists in question, it should be going instances show a second variation of
in vowels.Similarly,
evident that cognates play-through sheer consonantsor a difference
numbers-a substantial part in the teaching the succeedinginstances(also fromthe starred
of German.Let us nextglanceat themannerof group), frequentlyused to illustrateprimarily
the vocalic relationships,
accentuatelikenesses
presentationemployed in various grammars
and the wordsinvolvedtherein,withparticular or contrastsamongtheconsonants:
referenceto the MSGV. Whereas the shorter a--e
Satz--set;Stamm-stem
Bart-beard; klar--clear;Mahl-meal
illustrationsconsist of a few familiarrelated a--ea
a---o
alt--old; an--on; halten-hold; kalt--cold;
pairs (largelysuch as show consonantalvarialang-long;Nase-nose
tions according to Grimm's law), the fuller aa-ai
Haar-hair: Paar-pair
treatmentsare concerned with the vowels au--ea
Baum-beam; Haufe-heap; Haupt-head;
as well. In general,the introductory
laufen-leap
remarks
willproveadequate, iftheinstructor
elaborates au--oo Baum-boom; Bauer-boor; Raum-room
au--ou
Haus-bouse; laut-loud; Maus-mouse;sauer
on them,althoughsomelack a sufficiently
lucid
--sour
statementof the historicalconnectionbetween e-a
fern-far; merken-mark; sterben-starve;
German and English. Most of the following
Stern--star;werfen-warp
are favorite examples, all of them present e-i
geben-give;]eben-live; recht-right
e--o
mehr-more;Werk-work;wert-worth
among the 1018 starredwords:
b-f
b-v
ch-gh
ch-k
chs-x
ck-dg
d-th
f(f)-p
g-w
ei--ea
Heide-heath; klein--clean; leiten-lead;
halb-half;Weib-wife
meinen-mean;reichen-reach
haben-have; heben-heave; Knabe--knave;
1' In: BuildingtheGermanVocabulary,
Chicago:UniSilber--silver
versityofChicagoPress,1928.Exercisesfor"Erarbeitung
lachen--lugh;Licht-light
des Stoffes"
to around4000.
expandthescopeoflistings
brechen-break;machen-make;Sache-sake;
14 "A Studyin FirstYear GermanVocabulary,"
GQ,
Buch-book
VIII (1935),119-128.
Fuchs-fox; wachsen-wax
The
ThriftPress,1937.A briefdiscussion
of
15Ithaca:
Briicke-bridge;Ecke-edge; Riicken-ridge cognates(p. 23) adducessomesalientword-pairs
to exbaden-bathe; danken-thank;Ding-thing; emplify
the etymological
relation.
Erde-earth; Nord-north
6 Ein Wortschatz,
Boston: D. C. Heath, 1914. The
reif-ripe
subtitlereads:"A List of Two ThousandGermanWords
helfen-help;hoffen-hope;
in LogicalGroupsforSentenceBuildingin the
Berg-barrow;folgen-follow;
Arranged
Morgen--mor- FirstTwo Years" (i.e.,ofhighschool).
row; Vogel-fowl
CARL HAMMER, JR.
180
ei-i
ei-o
ie-ee
o---ea
o-u
6--ea
u--oo
u-ou
ii--ee
ii--i
ii--u
Eisen-iron; fein-fine;reiten-ride;scheinen
-shine; Weile-while;weit-wide
Bein-bone; Heim-home; Kleid-cloth;
meist-most;Stein-stone
Knie-knee; riechen-reek
Bohne-bean; Ohr--ear;Ost--east; Strom-stream
Mord-murder; Sommer-summer;Sonnesun; sonder-sundry;voll-full
t6ten--deaden
h6ren--hear;
Blume-bloom;Fui3-foot;gut-good; Schule
--school;Stuhl-stool
gesund-sound; Grund-ground; Hund-hound;rund-round
griif3en-greet
flihlen-feel;grtin-green;
ftillen-fill;Fiirst-first;ktissen-kiss;Miihle
-mill; wtinschen-wish
Btirger-burgher;
Gliick-luck;miissen-must
Oftenthe same pair of cognatescan serve as
a doubleillustrationof theconsonantalchanges
whicharose throughthe High GermanSound
Shift; they may also differin their vowels.
These words,respectivelygrouped under two
A
all
Arm
beginnen
binden
bringen
Butter
decken
fallen
finden
Finger
Gold
Hand
Hunger
in
Land
Name
Nest
oft
Ring
senden
singen
sinken
so
springen
Stand
still
Ware
warm
wenden
West
wild
Wind
Winter
B
backen-bake
bei-by
braun-brown
eben-even
Ende-end
ernst-earnest
Feld-field
frei-free
Freund-friend
Gast-guest
Gras-grass
Hafen-haven
hier-here
Leder-leather
Mann-man
Monat-month
Nachbar-neighbor
neu-new
Ofen-oven
reich-rich
sehen-see
selten-seldom
Sturm-storm
treu-true
unter-under
wachen-wake,watch
wundern-wonder
to thefirst
groupas to
'1 Pairsin theMSGV belonging
are:
spelling,but to the fourthwithrespectto meaning,
also-"also"; Hose-"hose"; stark-"stark";and Wink-
headings,are likewisetaken fromthe starred
contingent:
a) dicht-tight;Dieb--thief;doch-though;durchthrough; Garten-yard; gelb-yellow; gelten-yield;
reil3en-write;
Pflicht-plight;
schlafen-sleep;schlagenZahnslay; Tag--day; tief-deep; Tochter-daughter;
zu-to, too
tooth;ziehen-tow;Zimmer--timber;
b) auf-up; Auge-eye; beide-both; Brot-bread;
Bruder-brother;diinn-thin; eigen-own; heil3-hot;
lieben-love; Macht-might;NachtHerbst-bharvest;
night;nieder-netber;schieben-shove;streben-strive;
tun-do; iiberTeil-deal; Tier-deer; traurig--dreary;
over; Zeichen-token;Zweig-twig.
The above citationsare typical,but by no
means exhaustive, even within the starred
limits.In thefollowing
lists,totaling125 words,
four categoriesare distinguished;namely,A)
alike in spelling,or differing
only throughthe
infinitive
ending-(n)en; B) so similaras to be
easily recognizablein context; C) cognatesof
in consonantsor
more pronounceddifference
vowels,or in both; D) related couples with a
divergencein semanticdevelopment:"
C
ab-off
brennen-burn
Brust-breast
Daumen-thumb
Durst-thirst
Eiche-oak
Feuer-fire
fdrdern-further
Futter-fodder
Gans-goose
Geist-ghost
gleich-like
heilig-holy
irren--err
Jugend-youth
K6nig-king
Kuchen-cake
leicht-light
letzt-last
mischen-mix
Mond-moon
oder-or
6ffnen--open
Regen-rain
sollen-shall
sprechen-speak
silU-sweet
teuer-dear
Waffe-weapon
wirken-work
wohl-well
D
bald-bold
bergen-bury
brauchen-brook
deutsch-Dutch
einig(e)-any
Eltern-elders
fahren-fare
Feind-friend
fiirchten-fright(en)
Gefahr-fear
glatt-glad
Haut-hide
Knopf-knob
krank--crank(y)
leiden-loothe
Luft-loft
Mal-meal (as inpiecemeal)
messen-mete
mit-mid
nichts-naught
ob-if
reisen-rise
retten-rid
Schatz--scot
Schmerz-smart
stolz-stout
st6ren-stir
tr6sten-trust
Urteil-ordeal
warten-ward
weil-while
zeigen-teach
Ziel-till
zwingen-twinge
forthe termination
"wink."Allowing
-(e)n,the sameapplies to sparen-"spare"and spenden-"spend."
STRESS THE GERMAN-ENGLISH COGNATESI
Amongthe non-starredcognatesoccur such
stand-by'sof the compilersof German grammarsas Bier-beer; bieten-bid; Braut-bride;
Dampf-damp; faul-foul; hauen-hew; Herd
-hearth; Joch-yoke; Knecht-knight; Lehre
-lore; Mtinze-mint; Nacken-neck; OsA
Ball
bitter
blind
Fleck
Horn
Korn
mild
packen
Plan
Rest
rollen
Sack
Sand
spinnen
Stall
Strand
Wall
wandern
warnen
tern-Easter; Pfeife-pipe; pflegen-play;
rauh-rough; Schlof--slot;schwingen-swing;
selig-silly; tapfer-dapper; tauchen-duck;
tiichtig-doughty; Zinn-tin. The four sucentriesare arranged
ceedinglistsofnon-starred
as above in
accordingto the same classification
thecase ofthestarredwords:'"
B
Asche-ashes
bevor-before
bohren-bore
Damm-dam
fett-fat
Flut-flood
gleiten-glide
hastig-hasty
hemmen-hem
lahm-lame
Leder-leather
Lunge-lung
Mehl-meal
Nadel-needle
Netz-net
schimen-shame
Schild-shield
Sporn-spur
Stab-staff
starren-stare
C
Becher-beaker
beugen-bow
Brett-board
Eid-oath
fechten-fight
Fracht-freight
heischen-ask
hiiten-heed
Kasten--chest
Kessel-kettle
Los-lot
Nagel-nail
Pfad-path
Pfund-pound
rdichen-wreak
Reue-rue
Roi--horse
Saft-sap
Schraube--screw
schwirmen-swarnr
stecken-stick
streuen--strew
waschen-wash
weben-weave
willkommen-welcome
siedeln-settle
Tal-dale
taub-deaf
libel-evil
Weizen-wheat
Wurm-worm
Wirbel-whirl
zlih(e)-tough
Zoll-toll
Zunge-tongue
Since the MSGV is foundedon frequencyof
occurrencein the writtenlanguage, one need
not be surprisedat the absence of innumerable
termswhichpossess cognatesin Englishjust as
graphicas those already cited. The 85 words
listed below are not included in that count,
to
yet they would of themselvesbe sufficient
prove the kinshipof the two languages:
181
Aal-eel
Ahle-awl
Ahre-ear
Balg-bellow,
belly
bersten-burst
Birke-birch
Bock-buck
Deich-dike
D
bleich-bleak
Burg-borough
Draht-thread
eitel-idle
fliei3en-fleet
Flur-floor
Gasse-gate
gemi3--meet
Hiille-hull
kleben--cleave
kiihn-keen
Lager-lair
Pfeil-pile
quer-queer
raten-read
rauschen-rush
satt-sad
sdumen--seam
sch6pfen-scoop
segnen-sign(i.e.,to
make the sign of
thecross)
spritzen-spirt
taufen-dip
toll-dull
Tuch-duck (linenor
cottonfabric)
Wilste-waste
Zeug-toy
Dorn-thorn
Elle-ell
Esche-ash
fahl-fallow
Flegel-flail
Fohlen-foal
Furst-ford
gdhnen-yawn
Laib-loaf
Laub-leaf
lecken-lick
Lerche-lark
Lot-lead
m~hen-mow
Malz-malt
Masche--mesh
Met-mead
Minze-mint
class comprising Meer-mere; Miete-meed(- reward);nah-nigh; nehIs To thesefourone could add a fifth
commonGermanwordswithEnglishcognateswhichare men-nim(= filch);Oheim--eme;Rat-rede; Sage-saw
obsolete,archaic,dialectal,poetic,or otherwisein re- (as in"an oldsaw,"--saying);schaden--scathe;
Schadenstrictedor stereotyped
use. Examplesin the MSGV are: scath; Schande-shend; schnell-snell;
schin-sheen;
auch--eke;Bach-beck; bliiben-blow(=bloom);Bote-- schwarz-swart; sehr-sore; seit--sith; sicher-sicker
bode (a herald); bui3en-boot; Degen-thane; Dorp-- (Scot); Stunde-stound;trauen-trow(=
believe);Treppe
thorp; dulden-thole; erst--erst;
-trap (Scot.,=movablestairs); TrUtmmer;
(rare) sing.,
Flei3-flite(=-strife);
ffigen-fay(=
join); Glied-lith; heii3en-hight;
Trumm-thrum
(=particle,
bit); Wald-wold; WeiseHolz-bolt; Jammer-yammer;
jener--yon;Kaufmann--chap- wise;werden--worth
(in "woe worth,!1
etc.); wissen-wit
man; kennen-ken; Kummer--cumber;kund--couth; (weifi-wot); Wolke-welkin;Zeit-tide; Zeitung-tidLast-last(a certainweight); lieb-lief; Magen--maw; ing.
182
wetzen-whet
Nachtigall-nightingale
Zapfen-tap
Nessel-nettle
Zaum-team
Ochs-ox
Gilde-guild
Graitze-grit
Pech-pitch
Halfter-halter
Pfanne-pan
Pflaume-plum Hopfen-hop(s)
Hort-hoard
Speer--spear
stampfen-stamp hiipfen-hop
Stoppel-stubble ich--I
Streifen-strip, jucken-itch
Kafer-chafer
stripe
kahl-callow
tagen-dawn
Karpfen--carp
Talg-tallow
kauen--chew
Teich--ditch
keuchen--cough
Teig-dough
trinken--drench Kragen--craw
Krug--crock
Trog-trough
Ulme--elm
Pflug-plow
waten-wade
Pftitze-pit
Rabe-raven
Weide-withe
CARL HAMMER, JR.
recken-rack
Reh-roe
Rippe-rib
Rost-rust
Schaub-sheaf
Schaum-scum
Scheide-sheath
scheren-shear
Schwalbeswallow
Sichel-sickle
siech-sick
sieden-seethe
Span-spoon
Zaun-town
Zecke-tick
Zunder-tinder
Zwerg--dwarf
zwicken-twich
Zwielicht-twilight
gelernt-learnt;
teilte, geteilt-dealt;
triumte,
getr~umt-dreamt. Finally, the correspondences offeredby compounds are plentifulbeyond casual realization:
a) Augenbraue-eyebrow; Buchbinder-bookbinder;
Buttermilch-buttermilk;
Einsicht-insight;
Fingernagelfingernail;Goldschmied-goldsmith;
Kalbsleber--calf's
liver; Mitternacht-midnight;Oberlippe-upper lip;
Pfannkuchen-pancake;
Postmeister-postmaster;
Regenbogen-rainbow;Schulhaus-schoolhouse;
Seekiiste-sea
coast; Untergrund-underground;
Vaterland-fatherland;
Weizenbrot-wheat bread;
Vordergrund-foreground;
Winterwetter-winter
weather;
b) abbrechen-break
off;absenden--send
off;anbalten
--hold on; aufgeben-giveup; ausbrechen-breakout;
aushalten-holdout; besprechen-bespeak;
bezeichnenbetoken; dastehen-stand there; durchkommen--come
through; einbringen-bringin; fortgehen-goforth;
hergeben-givehere; iibergehen-goover; iibertreibenoverdrive;untergehen-gounder;unterliegen-underlie;
vergeben-forgive;verschw6ren-forswear;
vorgehenforego;widersteben-withstand.
Of the several hundred words adduced in
this article, many have near relativesin the
whichare ofsuchfundamental The same mightbe demonstratedforadjec"word-families,"
importancefor the acquisitionof Germanvo- tives and adverbial compounds.So one could
cabulary that the MSGV lays pre-eminent continue almost indefinitely.In the light of
stress upon them. It must be remembered the evidence broughtforwardin the foregoing
that Englishlikewisehas such groupsofderiva- discussion,can we teachersof German afford
tives froma basic stem. Thus, cognates may to neglect a proper utilization of the large
be presentnot onlyfora nounor verb,but also potentialvocabularywhichthe Englishspeakfor the correspondingadjective; for instance: ing student already possesses? Whether the
Schnee-snow; schneien-(to) snow;schneeig-- beginner'stext introducesthe subject or not,
shouldbe alertto the advantages
snowy. Then there are manycases wherethe theinstructor
past singularof a strongverb servesespecially of emphasizingcognates, always bearing in
thatwords,as living,changwell to illustratethe cognate character;e.g.: mind,incidentally,
begann-began; fror-froze; gab-gave; hielt ing organisms,appeal moreto the learnerthan
-held; kam-came; sah-saw; sang-sang; staid grammar. Complicated etymological
sprang-sprang; trank-drank; trat-trod. discoursesare seldom worthwhile,but simple
Similarly,the strongpast participle,with its explanationsof common root origins can be
representedin pairs given quicklyand withprofit,since theyoften
ending-(e)n,is forcefully
like geboren-born; gefallen-fallen;gelegan-- uphold the interestof the class when a dull
lain; geschlagen-slain; geschoren-shorn;ge- paragraph calls for a stimulus.For-to close
schworen-sworn; gesehen-seen; vergeben-- on a note of currentprofessionalconcernforgiven;vergessen-forgotten;verloren-for- our students are and will remain our best
lorn. The weak past and past participial advocates in the cause of Germanteaching.
CARL HAMMER,JR.
forms-teand -t have an Englishparallelin the
Louisiana State University
secondary-t (beside the moreusual -ed): lernte,