German English Words: H

Hallstatt adj.

from the Austrian village of Hallstatt "salt place": relating to an early stage of the Iron Age in central and western Europe and the Balkans.

"The knowledge of iron as well as bronze in Europe, centres around the area occupied by the Alpines in the eastern Alps and its earliest phase is known as the Hallstatt culture, from a little town in the Tyrol where it was first discovered." Madison Grant, Passing of the Great Race, Or, The Racial Basis of European History, 1916. Hallstatt is not in the modern-day Austrian province of Tyrol but rather in the province of Upper Austria.

hamburger, burger, -burger, hamburg n.

from Hamburger "of Hamburg": (uncooked) ground beef; (cooked) Hamburg steak; ground-beef patty sandwich. The hamburger on a bun was invented in America, but the hamburger patty was brought to America by German immigrants, who called it Hamburger. Interestingly the hamburger patty is no longer called Hamburger in Germany but rather Frikadelle, Frikandelle or Bulette, originally Italian and French words. And a hamburger on a bun in Germany is called a Hamburger, just like almost everywhere else in the world, being a re-import from America.

"You would have thought he'd shot Bambi or something the way some of the chicks carried on, and Merry was the worst—or no, Verbie, Verbie was even worse than that, as if she hadn't spent the first eighteen years of her life cruising the meat department at the supermarket and gorging on fifteen-cent burgers and pepperoni pizza like every other teenager in America." T.C. Boyle, Drop City, 2004, p. 57.
"A week before Christmas 1992 Lauren Beth Rudolph ate a cheeseburger from a Jack in the Box restaurant in California." Jennifer Ackerman, "Food: How Safe?" National Geographic, May 2002, p. 15.
"The diet sheet that had been sent by the Smeltings school nurse had been taped to the fridge, which had been emptied of all Dudley's favourite things – fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers – and filled instead with fruits and vegetables and the sorts of things that Uncle Vernon called 'rabbit food'." J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4), 2000, p. 30.
"IS HAMBURGER MEAT MADE OUT OF PEOPLE FROM HAMBURG?" Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Oct. 22, 1993.
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Hamburg steak, hamburger steak n.

ground beef patty, Salisbury steak.

hamster n.

from Hamster "hamster": a short-tailed, stout-bodied, burrowing rodent of the subfamily Cricetinae native to Europe and Asia and having large cheek pouches in which it carries food; the species used as a pet or laboratory animal is the golden or Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus); the fur of this animal; [computers] a tailless or cordless mouse (input device) [< German < Middle High German hamastra < Old High German hamastro, hamustro "corn-weevil" < Old Saxon hamstra "weevil" < Slavic, related to Old Russian chomestoru "hamster", related to Avestan hamaEstar "oppressor"]. This entry suggested by Jens Schlatter.

"At birth, the dog's brain reaches approximately 8% of its mature weight, the hamster 8%, the rat 15%, the mouse 22%, humans 24%, and the monkey 60% (Himwich, 1973~)." National Academy Press, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, 1993.

"'Can we get a bunny?' she asked. 'No.' 'I'd take care of it.' 'You have a hamster.'" David Carkeet, The Error of Our Ways: A Novel, 1997.
"The imagination of children never fails to stagger me. Once they put a hamster on my chest, and when I bolted upright (my throat muscles paralyzed with fright) they asked, 'Do you have any alcohol for the chemistry set?'" Erma Bombeck, Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing from America's Favorite Humorist, 2000.
"He is a gentleman of limitless patience who sits like a large hamster in a nest of papers." Quentin Crisp, Resident Alien: The New York Diaries, 1998.
"In our family even the hamster was thin." Sarah Dunant, Under My Skin: A Hannah Wolfe Mystery.
Why Did You Have to Get a Divorce? and When Can I Get a Hamster?: A Guide to Parenting Through Divorce, by Anthony E. Wolf, 1998.
ASPCA Pet Care Guides for Kids: Hamster, by Mark Evans & Roger A. Caras, 1993.
Hamster in a Handbasket (Animal Ark, 16), by Ben M. Baglio & Shelagh McNicholas, 2000.
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Die Hand die Verletzt n.

from Die Hand die Verletzt "The hand that harms": the title of season 2, episode 14 of the TV series The X-Files [< German die definite article + Hand "hand" + die relative pronoun + verletzen "to harm"]. This entry suggested by CauNo.

hasenpfeffer, hassenpfeffer n.

from Hasenpfeffer "peppered hare, also slang for rabbit droppings": jugged hare, a stew of marinated rabbit meat, a dish Elmer Fudd was always trying to make Bugs Bunny into. The Pfeffer probably doesn't refer to pepper, although peppercorns can be used in the marinade, but rather to the chopped meat or the blood used to thicken the sauce. [< German Hase "hare", colloquial "rabbit" + Pfeffer "pepper"]. This entry suggested by Laura L. B. Schulz. Thanks also to Sigi Rabenstein and Ulrich Wolff. See also Pez.

"Burch even shares some of his favorite game recipes—including such classics as Hasenpfeffer and Brunswick stew." from the dust jacket of Field Dressing and Butchering Rabbits, Squirrels, and Other Small Game: Step-By-Step Instructions, from Field to Table, by Monte Burch, 2001.
"... since I didn't teach then, but the Greytons had brought by a couple of rabbits, and that was Marygay's specialty, hassenpfeffer." Joe Haldeman, Forever Free, 2000, p. 11.
"Peter had an ambition to become as rich as his neighbor, Hugo Heffelbauer, who smoked a meerschaum pipe three feet long and had wiener schnitzel and hassenpfeffer for dinner every day in the week." O. Henry, 41 Stories by O. Henry, 1991, p. 236.
"When Fritz came home in the early blue twilight the snow was flying faster, Mrs. Kohler was cooking Hasenpfeffer in the kitchen, and the professor was seated at the piano, playing the Gluck, which he knew by heart." Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark, 1915, p. 73.
"'Schlemiel, schlimazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!' Tonight on ABC, Laverne & Shirley: Together Again. Bring Squiggy, por favor. [WABC, 7, 8 p.m.]", Jason Gay, "Jerry Nachman Roars Back With MSNBC", The New York Observer, May 6, 2002. The quote is the opening lines of the theme song to the TV show Laverne and Shirley. The first two words are Yiddish, not German.
"The audience also follows [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon into the kitchen where, in the series premiere, he shares his recipes for beef Wellington, autumn squash polenta and his signature dish, Mediterranean hasenpfeffer." Ashwini K. Chhabra, "Must-see TV", salon.com, Sep. 13, 2002.
"Hasenpfeffer of Rabbit, Grain Mustard Spaetzle, Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and Dill Oil $28", menu of the Zealous restaurant in Chicago, Winter 2002, p. 8. Of course, Hasenpfeffer of Rabbit is redundant. Spaetzle is a side dish made of wheat flour that comes from the Swabian region of Germany. It literally means "little sparrows".

hausfrau n. [pl. hausfraus, hausfrauen]

from Hausfrau "house wife, house woman": housewife. See also Bauhaus, Frau and Gasthaus.

"There's the insecure self-doubter, the self-described 'genius' and the cake-baking hausfrau [Roseanne Barr]", James Poniewozik, "A Rose Without Thorns?" Time, Aug. 4, 2003, p. 61.
"He saw a face whose mild blue eyes and undetermined mouth he still swore by as the standard by which to try all her inferior sisters, and a figure whose growing embonpoint yearly approached the outline of his ideal hausfrau." J. Storer Clouston, Count Bunker, 1905, p. 8.
"Civilisation has done away with curl-papers, yet at that hour the soul of the Hausfrau is as tightly screwed up in them as was ever her grandmother's hair; and though my body comes down mechanically, having been trained that way by punctual parents, my soul never thinks of beginning to wake up for other people till lunch-time, and never does so completely till it has been taken out of doors and aired in the sunshine." Elizabeth von Arnim (Marie Annette Beauchamp), Elizabeth and her German Garden.
"And the German Hausfrau, once so innocently consecrated to Kirche, Küche und Kinder, is going the same way." H.L. Mencken, In Defense of Women, 1922. Kirche, Küche und Kinder means "church, kitchen and children".

Heimlich maneuver n.

from heimlich "familiar, confidential, secret": named for Henry Jay Heimlich (1920- ) American surgeon, a firm embrace with clasped hands just below the rib cage, applied from behind to force an object from the trachea of a choking person [< Middle High German heimlich, heimelich "familiar" < Old High German heimilich "of the home, familiar" < Old High German heim "home"].

"Another patron grabbed him and started doing the Heimlich maneuver while the rest of us sat dumbfounded." Fran Drescher, Cancer Schmancer, 2002, p. 150.
"Sorry Bob. Your 'Heimlich maneuver' request was reviewed and denied..." Luckovich, in a cartoon in Newsweek, July 27, 1998, p. 8.
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heinie, Heinie, Heine n.

from Hein, Heine, diminutive of Heinrich "Henry": [Slang] a German (soldier): term of contempt used especially in World War I (not related to heinie meaning "buttocks").

"...so we'd keep clipping him until we had him cut right down to the stubble, pretty much, kind of a dog heinie." Garrison Keillor, "Tomato Butt" News from Lake Wobegon: Summer, 1987.

Herr, Mein n.

See Mein Herr.

Herrenvolk, herrenvolk n.

from Herrenvolk "master race": the German nation characterized by the Nazis as born to mastery; a group regarding itself as naturally superior [< German Herr "lord, master, Mr." + Volk "folk, people, race, nation"]. This entry suggested by CauNo. See also Mein Herr.

"He turned up as the herrenvolk had solemnly entered the church, top hats on arms, and set up a soapbox newsstand with a saucer full of coppers, and the banner headline Hitler Assassinated -- needless to say, with no papers to back it." Albert Meltzer, I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels: Sixty Years of Commonplace Life and Anarchist Agitation, 1996.
"Herrenvolk", season 4, episode 1, The X-Files.

hertz, Hz n. [pl. hertz, hertzes]

from Hertz "hertz": a unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second, named for Heinrich Rudolph Hertz, 1857-1894, German physicist [< German Hertz, Herz "heart" < Middle High German herz, herze < Old High German herza; or the name Hertz, Herz related to German Hirsch "deer" < Middle High German hirz < Old High German hirz, hiruz "antlered animal"]. This entry suggested by Wilton Woods.

"EMFs are characterized by their wavelength (expressed in meters) and their frequency (expressed in hertz)." National Research Council, An Evaluation of the U.S. Navy's Extremely Low Frequency Communications System Ecological Monitoring Program, 1997, p. 21.
"Sometimes it shows up as a lot more wiggles in the higher frequency range, up around 25 to 70 Hertz." William H. Calvin & George A. Ojemann, Conversations With Neil's Brain: The Neural Nature of Thought and Language, 1994.

hinterland n.

from Hinterland "hinder land": inland or remote region.

"They showed up at the last minute, shuffling around in the dirt, hands going in and out of their pockets and their eyes locking on every face as if they were equipped with built-in lasers, and announced they were coming along for the ride even if they didn't think they'd make it all the way up to the frozen hinterlands, because it was a free country, wasn't it?" T.C. Boyle, Drop City, 2004, p. 115.
"The ruses that are used to lure and retain the workers from desperately poor hinterlands of neighboring countries like Mali and Burkina Faso are just as tried and true." Howard W. French, "On Ivory Coast Farms, Echoes of Slavery" International Herald Tribune, June 24, 1998, p. 8.
"Your idea of the best in music includes a bunch of hinterland artists with minimal, perhaps questionable, talent." Carl Widing, in a letter to Time, Jan. 20, 1997, p. 5.

hopfgeist n.

from Hopfen + Geist "hops + ghost, spirit": no doubt made up by the author of the following example. See also poltergeist, zeitgeist.

"There's a smoking-tavern called the Half-way House. The hopfgeist is friendly." Iain M. Banks, Feersum Endjinn, 1994, p. 78.

hornblende n.

from Horn "horn" + blenden "to blind": a certain mineral. See also blende.

hornfels, hornfelz n.

from Hornfels "horn rock": a fine-grained rock produced by the action of heat especially on slate.

"'And the thump it made coming down—tons and tons of skarn and hornfels—set off another [cave-in], deeper in.'" Stephen King, Desperation, 1996, p. 422.

howitzer, hauwitzer n.

from Haubitze "howitzer": cannon with medium-length barrel and high angle of fire [< Dutch houwitser, houvietser < German Haubitze < Middle High German haufnitz < Czech houfnice "catapult, slingshot, sling"].

"On the stroke of 8:00 A.M. the air was suddenly filled with the whistle of shells, the echo of their detonation, the deeper boom of the howitzers and the muffled roar of the heavies." Eloise Engle & Lauri Paananen, The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland 1939-1940, 1973, p. 15.
"They had found several Krupp howitzers left over from the Bulgarian war and had installed them on concrete foundations." Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, 2000.
"Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer planted/High on the roof of the church, a preacher who speaks to the purpose,/Steady, straightforward, and strong, with irresistible logic,/Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish and Other Poems, 1858.
"The barbers snatched steaming towels from a machine like a howitzer of polished nickel and disdainfully flung them away after a second’s use." Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, 1912.
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Knapp, Robbin D. 2009. "GermanEnglishWords.com: H". In Robb: GermanEnglishWords.com. Jan. 2, 2009.

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