Today's German Maxim ...

is actually a Latin maxim from a letter by the ancient Roman philosopher/statesman Seneca warning against relying on maxims.

The German version:

Die Wahrheit steht allen offen; sie ist noch nicht eingenommen worden.
-- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

After paraphrasing it into English and Googling, I was able to find several English translations:

• Truth lies open for all; it has not yet been monopolized. And there is plenty of it left even for posterity to discover.
• ... the truth is open to all and is not yet fully possessed.
• The truth is open to all; (but) her domain is not yet occupied; [and much of it remains to be discovered by the men who are yet to come.]
• Memory guards what is entrusted to us, but knowledge consists in making it our own, and not thinking of masters. If we are satisfied with what has been found out, we shall find nothing more. They who have gone before us are not our masters, but our guides. Truth is open to all, and has not yet been taken possession of, but many discoveries will be left for future ages.--Epistle xxxiii, secs. 8, 10 and 11.

[I have emphasized the part quoted in German above.]
The original Latin:

Patet omnibus veritas; nondum est occupata; multum ex illa etiam futuris relictum est.

Source: Seneca's Moral Epistle 33 [at latinlibrary.com -- Scroll down to letter 33: XXXIII. SENECA LUCILIO SUO SALUTEM]

A little more context for Seneca's anti-maxim maxim:

For this reason, give over hoping that you can skim, by weans of epitomes, the wisdom of distinguished men. Look into their wisdom as a whole; study it as a whole. They are working out a plan and weaving together, line upon line, a masterpiece, from which nothing can be taken away without injury to the whole. Examine the separate parts, if you like, provided you examine them as parts of the man himself. She is not a beautiful woman whose ankle or arm is praised, but she whose general appearance makes you forget to admire her single attributes.

Source: OCR scan of the Loeb edition at stoics.com

God our security,
who alone can defend us
against the principalities and powers
that rule this present age;
may we trust in no weapons
except the whole armor of faith,
that in dying we may live,
and, having nothing, we may own the world,
through Jesus Christ. AMEN
--Janet Morley, All desires known, 1988

A paraphrase

Today's German saying:
Liebe den den du liebst,
hasse den den du hasst,
aber hasse nie den, den du geliebt hast!

Love that which you love,
Hate that which you hate,
but hate that never, which you loved!

German language reform flops

Found at Arts and Letters Daily:
About 8 years ago, the language police in Germany decided to simplify spelling and punctuation. Now, major newspaper publishers are announcing that they are going back to the old spelling. Read more:

• Swissinfo [Reuters--James Mackenzie--German publishers in revolt over spelling]
• BBC News [Spelling revolt grips German press]
• The Guardian Observer [Luke Harding--Germans bridle at language law]

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [English site: FAZ Weekly] already abandoned the new spelling rules in 2000. Other newspapers and news-magazines going back to the old style: Bild and Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Others that are staying with the new style, for now: Frankfurter Rundschau and Berliner Zeitung.

This reminds me of the way the transition to the metric system was scuttled in the United States. This is conservatism at its best: oppose a sensible change because it's change; the old, confusing, and convoluted system is always best.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

Denglish

What is it? Read this essay in FAZ Weekly to find out:

“Denglish“ is a well-documented phenomenon, but I've discovered something new. English words seem to be entering the German language unchanged and, even better for me, unnoticed.
Perhaps it's because of our growing global culture, but English words are burying so far into the consciousness of the average German that they either don't know the word in German or it doesn't exist.

The author, Elizabeth Book, has been studying German for two years.

Father, let me dedicate All this year to you
In whatever earthly state You will have me be
Not from sorrow, pain, or care Freedom dare I claim;
This alone shall be my prayer: Glorify Your name.
--from New Year's Hymn by Lawrence Tuttiett, 1864 (alt.)

SPIEGEL TV exklusiv: Iraker in US-Haft zu Tode gefoltert - Politik - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The German newsweekly doubts that 47 year old Iraqi prisoner Asad Abdul Kareem Abdul Jaleel died in his sleep:

Zuvor hatten amerikanische Truppen den angesehenen Stammes-Ältesten auf offener Straße festgenommen und zur amerikanischen Militärbasis Al Asad westlich des Ortes Khan Al Baghdadi gebracht. Angeblich bestand der Verdacht, der Festgenommene gehöre dem irakischen Widerstand an. In dem Gefängnis innerhalb der Basis sollen die Soldaten Asad Abdul Kareem Abdul Jaleel massiv unter Druck gesetzt haben. Ein Mitgefangener beschrieb gegenüber SPIEGEL TV detailliert, wie der 47-Jährige fünf Tage lang auf sadistischste Weise gefoltert wurde. Von den Misshandlungen hätten US-Soldaten auch Fotos gemacht, so der Zeuge.


Am 9. Januar dieses Jahres starb Asad Abdul Kareem Abdul Jaleel in der US-Haft. An der Version eines natürlichen Todes jedoch gibt es erhebliche Zweifel. Ein irakischer Gerichtsmediziner, der den Leichnam des Mannes von den US-Streitkräften übernahm, bestätigte gegenüber SPIEGEL TV in Bagdad eindeutig Folterspuren am Körper des Verstorbenen diagnostiziert zu haben. Bilder des Toten belegen zudem, dass der Mann entgegen den US-Angaben sehr wohl obduziert wurde. Die Narben auf dem Oberkörper deuten daraufhin, dass dies westliche Ärzte durchgeführt haben.

The emboldened quote can be paraphrased: A fellow prisoner described in a face-to-face interview with SPIEGEL TV in detail how the 47-year-old was tortured in a sadistic way for five days. There's no torture going on in Iraq, just fraternity high-jinks and good-ole American amateur porn. Or if there is torture, it's the fault of a few bad apples. Or if it's not just a few . . .

German words of the year for 2003

From german.about.com: Selected by Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache.
The German words of the year

das alte Europa - Donald Rumsfeld's "old Europe" phrase became a badge of honor in Germany

Agenda 2010 das - Chancellor Schröder's (SPD) label for his reform plans

Reformstreit der - the fighting over "Agenda 2010"

SARS/Sars das - the worldwide disease outbreak (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

eingebettete Journalisten - imbedded journalists (in Iraq)

Maut-Desaster das - failure of an autobahn toll/tax proposal

Steuerbegunstigungsabbaugesetz das - legislation to end tax advantages

Jahrtausendglut die - Europe's heat wave in the summer of 2003; rhymes with Jahrtausendflut, a 2002 Word of the Year referring to the devastating eastern German floods that year; the Swiss called the heat wave the Jahrtausendsommer.

googlen - to "google" (use a search engine)

Alcopops pl. - sweet (soda-pop-like) alcoholic drinks [ugh, 'wine coolers' in Germany]

Satz des Jahres 2003:

Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS) = Germany seeks the superstar (TV show)

The website of the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache is here: German or English.
And here is the page with the German words of the year back to 1971.

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing. --Psalm 146:1-4 NIV

German Advent Calendar

St. Nick has already made his visits in Germany to deliver gifts. Here is a German Advent Calendar for 2003. It starts with a warning: Slow down, look both ways before you continue, make sure it is safe. I am intrigued.

Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing. --Psalm 146:1-4 NIV

Today's Paraphrase from German

Keiner ist niemand.
--Unbekannt

None is no one.
--Unknown

A rather minimalist quotation: what does it mean?

Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else. Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do. --1st Thessalonians 5:15-18 CEV

German language learning

Here are a couple of useful sites for learning German:

Deutsche Welle has a daily 10 minute newscast in slowly spoken, carefully pronounced German on this page. When you click on the link for the day's news, a window opens that gives you the choice between listening immediately or downloading in MP3 format. Internet audio has many gaps and interruptions that can make it hard to understand, so I usually download the program, and then record it with a cassette recorder (for my daily commute.) Over a slow dial-up connection, it can take about half an hour to download.

BBC has quite a few resources on this page. And I see links to other European languages as well. But some of the lesson materials take a long time to load and aren't very "portable."

Don't be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else. Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do. --1st Thessalonians 5:15-18 CEV

German paraphrase

This time, a Stoic aphorism of Seneca:

Nicht wer wenig hat, sondern wer viel wünscht, ist arm.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Not one who has little, but one who wishes much, is poor.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca

More German paraphrases

Die wahren Abenteuer finden im Kopf statt.
--Unbekannt

True adventures take place in the head.
--Unknown

Wenn Weihnachten näher kommt, dann wird es heller in unserem Leben, und die weihnachtliche Erwartung, sie ist wie schöne Musik.
--Rainer Kaune

As Christmas gets closer, it becomes brighter in our life, and the anticipation of Christmas is like beautiful music.
--Rainer Kaune

Poem in paraphrase from German

not a translation!

To a Child
that shows me a ripped out Lock of Hair

My Child, in which War must you
Lose your yellow Hair?
A Rosebranch has sprung at you to snatch it!
You scarcely show it and even laugh.
God grant, that in future Time
Never any Loss, nor another Sorrow
more bitterly in young Hearts
May hurt you more than this light Robbery!
--Eduard Mörike

This reads like a Japanese attempt at English. (Ugh) But I still like it.