Thursday, July 12, 2007

German word of the day

Selbstlaut (m) - vowel. I find this word interesting because the name literally translates to self-loud, self-sound, or the same with "automatic" replacing "self." The other word for vowel is Vokal (also m.), which I am guessing is a more recent addition to the language.

2 comments:

Rufus said...

That is interesting. I'm not entirely sure I see the logic of it. I get the self part, but I'm not sure I understand why it wouldn't be connected to acting instead of vocalizing. I like it though.

Greg von Winckel said...

A vowel carries its own weight while a consonant mooches off of its neighbors.