Hello, and happy holidays!

I’m finally getting into the holiday spirit. I don’t have space for a tree or decorations (and I have a cat), so I don’t get into the mood until I go outside in the cold dark and drink mulled wine and eat fair food under sparkling lights.

Last year, I wrote about some yuletide etymologies. This year, I want to talk about a word that isn’t specifically related to Christmas, but a lot of things around Christmas and in winter are it.

Gemütlich

I do not believe words are untranslatable, but some words are harder to convey in a different language than others. Gemütlich is one of them. You can get a dictionary translation, but there are a lot of English words that pair with it (and one of them is just … the word borrowed into English). But you take all of those words and put them together and then you get the sense of gemütlich. A German-German dictionary gives one main sense and three subsenses.

In general, it has a sense of positive, warm feelings, coziness and comfort, and a calm, good mood. Sitting by the fireplace in fuzzy jammies with a cup of cocoa is gemütlich. A good Christmas market is gemütlich. You can have a gemütlich chat with a friend or neighbor, have a gemütlich cup of coffee, or even be a gemütlich person. 

It’s one of my favorite words, but also one of my least favorite to render into English. You can’t just use cozy for all of those, or even comfortable. But since the hygge craze of 2015 or so, maybe we could use that.

So, where does it come from? 

According to DWDS, Gemüt stems from the Old High German word gimuoti, which signifies the collection of senses and emotions and is seen in Middle High German to mean ‘pleasant, enjoyable.’ Gimuoti is derived from muot (Mut; boldness, daring) and the prefix gi-, which is used for groupings and collections of things (and is seen in modern German words like Gewässer ‘waters’). Gemüt gets its modern limited meaning, ‘disposition, mind, soul, mood,’ around 1800.

Gemütlich is the adjective (and adverb) form of Gemüt. It is first attested in Middle High German with a meaning of ‘appropriate to the Gemüt,’ then in the 16th century as ‘regarding the Gemüt’ and ‘pleasant, welcome.’ In the 18th century, it’s used to mean ‘something that addresses and satisfies the soul’ and ‘what comes from the emotions,’ from which the modern use is derived.

I like it for the whole slew of meanings it has. It’s got such a warm meaning, and it makes me happy to think about it.

Next year

I might write about my other favorite German words next month (though narrowing it down will be difficult). In February or March, I’m going to tell you about my friend’s novella that’s coming out in April that I read much earlier this year because they asked me for a blurb (!), and I have been absolutely itching to tell you all about it.

Until next time!