{"id":68661,"date":"2025-03-24T10:22:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=68661"},"modified":"2025-03-24T10:22:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T15:22:01","slug":"geheuer-und-ungeheuer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=68661","title":{"rendered":"geheuer und Ungeheuer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years ago, I wrote a post about \"kempt and sheveled<\/a>\" (3\/26\/23).<\/p>\r\n

That elicited the following offline comment by a German friend:<\/p>\r\n

When I was a grad. student (Indology, linguistics) \u00a0at Erlangen-N\u00fcrnberg in the late 60s, we used to joke about the same phenomenon:<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\"What is a Geheuer?\u201d<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\u201cUngeheuer\" (monster) is normal, but \u201cGeheuer\" does not exist. There only is an adjective \u201cgeheuer\u2019 as in:<\/div>\r\n
\u00a0<\/div>\r\n
\"Das ist mir nicht geheuer\" (This is ominous to me).<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

My friend thought it wouldn't be funny to non-German speakers, so I set this bon mot aside and forgot about it till today.\u00a0 Now, in the age of \"Vintage Teslas\" (an expression I saw on a bumper sticker yesterday) and whatnot, it may strike a chord with some folks.<\/p>\r\n

\"ungeheuer\" and \"geheuer\" are antonyms:\u00a0 \"ungeheuer\" means \"enormous, immense, vast, gigantic, terrible\", while \"geheuer\" means \"pleasant, gentle, friendly\".<\/p>\r\n

Etymological background and usage notes<\/b><\/p>\r\n

(from Wiktionary, with minor modifications by VHM)<\/p>\r\n

heuer<\/b><\/p>\r\n

From Middle High German<\/a><\/span> hiure<\/a><\/i>, from Old High German<\/a><\/span> hiuro<\/a><\/i>, hiuru<\/a><\/i>, from hiu<\/a><\/i> (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>in this<\/span>\u201d<\/span>)<\/span> +\u200e j\u0101ru<\/a><\/i> (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>year<\/span>\u201d<\/span>)<\/span>. Compare German<\/a><\/span> heute<\/a><\/i> from Old High German<\/a><\/span> hiu<\/a> tagu<\/a><\/i> (\"this day\").<\/p>\r\n

(<\/span>Austria<\/a>,<\/span> Switzerland<\/a>,<\/span> South Tyrol<\/a>,<\/span> Liechtenstein<\/a>,<\/span> otherwise dialectal<\/a><\/span>)<\/span><\/span> this year<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The word is never used in northern and central Germany. It may even\u2014at least by less educated speakers\u2014be misinterpreted as a synonym of heute<\/a><\/i> (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>today<\/span>\u201d<\/span>)<\/span>. It does however occasionally mean heutzutage<\/a><\/i> (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>nowadays<\/span>\u201d<\/span>)<\/span> or heute<\/a><\/i> (<\/span>\u201c<\/span>nowadays<\/span>\u201d<\/span>)<\/span>, for example:<\/p>\r\n