Saturday, June 13, 2015

German 4 Dummies: Staatswohl

Compound of Staat (state) and Wohl (well-being), the well-being of the state or the nation, the greater good or the common good (Gemeinwohl).

There are days when the blogster finds solace in Mark Twain's musings about "that awful German language" in order to alleviate a feeling of language induced nausea.

If you interpret this statement as an insult or as insensitive, you may not have read the web page behind the link. The one important quote from this collection is at the very bottom of the page: How charmed I am when I overhear a German word which I understand!

If you look up Staatswohl in the standard German dictionary Duden, you will find the definition section extremely interesting because it is circular and contains a single usage example of inconclusive value.

The definition is:
Wohl des Staates, which is nothing other than the long form before formation of the more convenient (to Germans) compound.
As as circular definitions go in linguistics, this is as circular as it can possibly be.  If you try a definition like this in school, an F is all but assured. 

The example says "set aside party interests in favor of the well-being of the state".
Also conspicuously absent from the Duden entry are synonyms and antonyms. 

A search for current use of Staatswohl in German public discourse reveals that it overwhelmingly appears in contexts in which the English speaking world uses the term "national security" or "reason of state" although the Germans have their own matching version "nationale Sicherheit" and "Staatsräson". 

That's because some argue that Staatswohl as used these days can be interpreted as having nothing to do with the well-being of the nation and everything to do with obfuscation. 

How do the Duden editors get away with the nonsensical definition? 

It's probably best for the well-being of the nation.

No comments:

Post a Comment