German lessons for Owlet: 1

[muckefuck]

Okay, I've been meaning to do this for a bit, but she just goosed me.

Remember Sahnehäubchen, the exciting new word I gushed about here some time back? Let's have a closer look at it.

1. It's a typical German compound noun. The first element is Sahne, which is the standard word for "cream". It's pronounced /za:n@/, with a voiced initial and a long vowel. In context, it often means "whipped cream", though the full term is Schlagsahne (from schlagen "beat, whip").
2. The second element, Häubchen, is a diminutive. The regular form is Haube "bonnet, cap, hood". This is the second element in Pickelhaube, the name for those spiked helmets (Pickel "pickaxe, pike") from Wilhelmine times.
3. Haube is feminine, as are most nouns ending in -e. However, adding the diminutive ending -chen switches it to neutre gender. (This is the source of Twain's well-known remark that in German, "a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has.") This is true of other diminutives as well, such as the more literary -lein and southern colloquial variants like -le and -li. (So Müesli is also neutre.)
4. Most nouns also undergo I-Umlaut when a diminutive suffix is added. There are historical reasons for this, but it's more relevant for the modern learner to know the sound changes. ä is pronounced essentially like e. eu in German is /OY/; English /OI/ as in boy is a close enough substitute. Thus, Häubchen is /"hOYpC@n/.
5. The literal meaning is, thus, "little cream hood" and, as mentioned before, it refers to the head of whipped cream on a drink or dessert. However, the metaphorical interpretation is "lagniappe".

Now, let's introduce definite articles, since it's best to learn this along with each noun in order to remember the gender assignment. In the nominative, they are der (masculine), die (feminine), and das (neutre). Thus:

• der Pickel
• die Haube, die Sahne
• das Häubchen, das Müesli

Any questions? Now a quiz:

(1) What gender is der Schnitt "the slice"?
(2) What would the diminutive of this be?
(3) How would you make a compound of this with Sahne? Any guesses what this would mean?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

NB: Sahne is not really the standard word for cream; it's one of the main regional variants [the other one being Rahm, which is I think northern]. If memory serves me correctly, there are cool maps showing the geographical distribution of these two words...

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

I think that "Sahne" is the standard for "cream"! You have Sahne on ice, on cakes, on deserts ... If I'm right it could be "Rahm" if you have a fluid or semifluid consistence (a bit like creme freche).

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Anders rum! I lived in the South, and there they say "Rahm". There's also "Obers", which I think of as specifically Austrian, but it may be in use in parts of Bavaria as well. A specifically northern word is "Flott", but it doesn't have the currency of these three.

Wer sind Sie eigentlich, wenn ich mal fragen darf?

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob ich dich richtig verstehe ... aber ich meine, Rahm und Sahne sind nicht identisch. In meiner Region jedenfalls gibt es sowohl Sahne wie Rahm. Zum Kuchen oder zum Eis würde man grundsätzlich (Schlag)Sahne nehmen. Ob man Rahm überhaupt schlagen kann, dass er eine feste Konsistenz bekommt ... ich habe leise Zweifel. Will man eine Soße oder eine Suppe verfeinern, würde man eher Rahm oder creme freche benutzen. Ich meine Rahm liegt zwischen Sahne und creme freche. Aber ich muss zugeben, ich bin kein Experte und du kannst mich gerne korrigieren.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

So weit wie ich feststellen kann, gibt es keine wissenschaftliche Unterschiede zwischen "Sahne" und "Rahm". Sie sind ledig regionalbedingte Synonome. Im badischen Mund gibt es keine "Schlagsahne", nur "Schlagrahm".

ich staune!

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

Ich hätte es nicht gedacht. In meiner Region habe ich es noch nie gehört, dass jemand Schlagrahm sagt oder schreibt. Ich werde gelegentlich mal in der Konditorei ein Stück Kuchen mich Schlagrahm bestellen. Ich bin gespannt, welche Reaktion ich hier ernte.
Ciao

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

(1) masculine
(2) das Schnittle?
(3) Schnitsahne? (I'm guessing it's not so easy as just smashing -sahne onto the end) My guess for meaning would be something similar to pie a la mode.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

(1) Richtig!
(2) That's correct, but very colloquial/region. If you say it, people will think you're from Baden or Schwaben.
(3) I was looking for das Sahneschnittchen. It's gay slang and means something like "cutie pie".

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

(3) Well, okay! That certainly LOOKS like better German. And I can see a logical thread between "cream-topped slice" and "cutie pie" (with alot of eye-rolling).

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Schaetzchen, sometimes there is such a thing as being too precious.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

German doesn't have a word for that; infolgedessen, it must not be possible!

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Eine schoene Unordnung!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Doch, das ist total logo, Homo!

[danbearnyc.livejournal.com]

Beefy Roll, ist neu und toll!