Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day.
This time, with a word that’s a key ingredient of what makes humans humans. And it ALSO has in it a whole bunch of interesting connections – between languages and also between language and philosophy:
das Gewissen
It’s not a word that you’d use every day, so chances are high that you’ve never really noticed it. But it stands for something that is with us every single day.
Because das Gewissen is the German word for the conscience.
And as different as these two look on the surface – they’re actually pretty much the same word.
The words “Gewissen” and “conscience”
You probably noticed the “wissen” in Gewissen, right? Which of course means to know.
So far so good.
Now, you might have never noticed it, because it’s hidden in plain sight, but the word conscience has science in it. It’s not related to the word wissen, but the core goal of science is indeed knowledge and the German word for science is die Wissenschaft.
And that’s not all. Because science comes from the Latin verb scire and that meant… to know. Just like wissen.
Now you might be like “Wow, I totally forgot what we’re talking about.”. but that’s just our modern ADHD brains talking.
We’re talking about how the words Gewissen and conscience and how they’re the same word essentially. Because it’s not only the wissen-part that’s the same. It’s also the prefixes.
The first part of conscience is the prefix con-, a variant of co- and the core theme of this prefix is together, with.
And now guess what: the German ge-prefix is the same.
Like… ge-prefix might actually be a literal cousin of co- . And while that is not 100% certain, it’s definitely thematically related.
Now you’re probably like “Wait, I thought ge- was about past tense.”
And yes, that is its most prevalent use today. But there are plenty of words with ge- that are not about past tense.
Like das Gebirge (mountain range), das Gehirn (brain), gehören (to belong) and many more.
Of course you now want to know how the heck these connect, but that’d be too much for today. I do have an article (and book) about this stuff coming up though, so more to come soon.
But yeah… ge- basically was a prefix like all the others, and I would decribe its core theme as toward one point. Or in other words, coming together.
Just like con-.
So, das Gewissen and the conscience both basically mean “with-knowledge” if we take them literally.
And in fact, das Gewissen is basically a word people made up to have a proper German based term for the Latin based conscience. And the Romans didn’t come up with it either. They just translated it from ancient Greek syné͞idēsis. Which also basically meant something like “with-knowing”.
And why?
Well, I’m not a philosophy major or anything, so please correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I have read, the idea of a conscience came from Ancient Greek philosophy and it was kind of an inner voice or a “part of self” that is watching you and knows along with you, what you’re doing.
Like… when you secretly drink your flatmate’s whisky and replace it with unicorn pee (which happens to taste like aged single malt scotch) you know it. But also your inner “with-knower” knows it. You could think of it as your “best self”, which is then making you feel guilty.
I found all that really interesting when I read about it, so I wanted to share it. And it’s also a great example for con- and ge- kind of being the same thing. But more on that in the article that’s coming soon.
Cool.
So that’s the word history and the underlying ideas of the words.
Now, let’s look at some examples and also explore some more words in the family of Gewissen.
“das Gewissen” in Practice
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Conscience in Swedish is ”Medvetenhet”. ”Med” means with. ”vetenhet” is not a word that is used at all but ”to know” is ”att veta” so ”vetenhet” should mean ”knowledge”
”Medvetenhet” would be “Mitwissenheit” in German.. a really rare and obscure word that only occurs in legal writing, as far as I am aware.
But the parts are clearly “con+knowing” :)
Ha. In Romanian it’s “conştiință”, which would also technically mean “with science”. Never thought about it until now.
Hi Emanuel
A tquestion: how can I be sarcastic in German? For example a teacher wants to be sarcastic to a short student sitting at the last row of the class…can I say: als ob du so groß wärst, dass du da hinten ( in der letzten Reihe ) sitzt!
Thank you so much
That’s correct grammatically. Sarcasm works the same way in every language, I think. There’s no specific set of tools in German that wouldn’t be the same in a different language when translated properly.
Thank you Emanuel for your answer…may I ask you my last question because I could not find a proper answer to it…you’re a native German speaker and you know your answer is authentic….
My question: sometimes we do a favor to sb and we keep reminding him/ her of our favor to make him / her feel indebted…how can I say that in German? Musst du mir ständig unter die Nase reiben, dass du mir beim Umzug geholfen hast? Musst du mir immer wieder zu verstehen geben, dass…..
I’m not sure…
Thank you the best teacher on the planet
Either of your options work, but they both sound a bit annoyed. Like, you’d say this is the other person reminding you goes on your nerves.
Conscience in Scottish Gaelic is “cogais” pronounced Kai-shensh :)
Wow, sounds almost Japanese!
Just getting to this post and article, and I have to say both the article and the comments here are among the most fascinating you’ve had, and there have been a lot of fascinating submissions over the years. I enjoy everyone’s etymological insights – thank you! (and yes, “taxing” is the most idiomatic translation of “belastend” in your example, I think).
I’m really happy to hear that :). Danke!!
In Urdu we have the word ضمیر (Zameer), a loanword from Persian – ultimately Arabic – that means something similar yet it is quite formal. No one says it in day-to-day speech. Instead we use constructs centering on dil (heart), man (heart/mind/being) and jee (inner self/being). My heart is against this, this doesn’t feel good to my heart/mind, my heart is disturbed, the heart says this feels right, et cetera.
So if I was to use “zameer”, people would be confused to actually hear the word, right?
not really, but they will feel it’s a bit unnatural
This comment has nothing to do with this post, but i would like to thank Emanuel and the members for the sponsorship I got! I’ll help me a lot!
Hi everyone! I am a new member of “yourdailygerman.” I would like to say thank you for people, especially the creator of the website, who allow people in need to learn German despite all the financial obstacles that one might sometimes encounter in his or her life. And, of course, I wish you a very happy New Year, language enthusiasts! :)
Könntest du bitte die Bedeutung von “gewisse” mit weiteren Beispielen erklären?
Ist das ähnlich wie “manche”?
Danke!
I checked the Hebrew Bible for words translated with syneidesis in the Septuagint (2nd c. BC Greek version), and the only one I found is מַדָּע madda’ in Ecclesiastes 10:20. It’s pretty clear in both languages that what’s meant isn’t so much what we’d call “conscience” or “Gewissen” as “[secret/private] thoughts,” though. The Hebrew word is based on the normal word for “know” (either wissen or kennen).
The word Google Translate comes up with in modern Hebrew is מַצְפּוּן matzpun, which would be from a verb for “hide/conceal.”
Ah, nice! I guess this ties in with the word in Arabic that others have mentioned here in the comments. If not etymologically, then at least conceptually.
whaakaro in Te Reo Maori (New Zealand) The noun is thought opinion plan, understanding, idea, intention and conscience. I’m learning Te Reo and an Austrian friend tells me the pronunciation is similar to German. So I’m hoping that will help me both ways!
Wow, that’s a broad range of meanings!!
I’ll have to listen to some Te Reo and see if it “sounds” similar. Like, in terms of sound material.
I’m pretty sure I’ve read “gewiss” used as an exclamation, also “gewiss doch”. I’m guessing they just mean approximately “for sure” ? Are they a bit old fashioned sounding?
A bit old fashioned or aristrocratic. Maybe they were using it half ironically. Or they were from the South.
Diesel Kommentar hat nichts mit der Lektion zu tun. Ich habe nur eine andere Frage. Kennen Sie die Fernsehserie „Viktor Bringt’s“? Ich habe sie im Internet gefunden, zusammen mit mehreren anderen deutschen Serien und Filmen. Sie haben meinem Hörverständnis gut getan. Die deutschen Untertitel sind auch verfügbar.
Nee, nie gehört. Ist die neu?
Keine Ahnung. Sie sind sehr lustig.
Obwohl ich die Beiträge seit Monaten nicht geöffnet habe, kann ich den Beitrag nicht öffnen. Danke.
Kopier mal die URl hier und probier einen anderen Browser.
https://yourdailygerman.com/gewissen-meaning/
A small error: “… very straining for the team.” Curiously, the participle “straining” is only used for taking out the tea-leaves etc (“leave the soup straining through the muslin bag”), or for exerting a big effort to do something (“straining at the leash” – often figurative).
You can say “… was a big strain on/for the team”.
I asked ChatGPT now and it somewhat agrees with you that it’s not the best choice, but it is listed on dict.cc and I have read it multiple times in the way I used it.
So just to double check… would you say it’s wrong or not understandable or is it just a bit unusual?
I’d call it wrong. I can certainly figure out what you mean (mainly because I know about anstrengend), but it’s really not idiomatic. I agree with Tony that “to be a strain on” would be better. “Taxing” would work well if you want a single adjective.
Cool, thanks for the input!
I think you’re pretty familiar with the vibe of this “anstrengend”, so would you say “taxing” is a good enough fit? To me, it sounds a bit too much like resource extraction :)
You can also use put or putting instead of is / was eg “his actions put a strain on our relationship “.
Straining is plain wrong. Taxing works well in this context.
You could of course translate belastend literally as “a burden”, so…
”the uncertainty about whether the company survives is (quite) a burden for the rest of us/the team.”
Anstrengend is just tricky, because it sort of covers the same ground as a bunch of different English expressions. “Taxing” would emphasize that it depleted the resources of the team (in terms of energy especially).
“Demanding” would feel to me like “the team had to work hard” but not necessarily indicate any negative consequences, at least by itself. I might say “demanding” also tilts slightly toward meaning that the work itself was challenging to do, not just that there was a lot of it, but that might be more subjective.
“Put a strain on” keeps the “strain” connection there, though it does sound like there was danger of breakdown, which I don’t feel like is really part of the anstrengend vibe by itself (maybe I’m wrong?).
You could use “stressful,” though that goes in a somewhat more emotional direction. Heck, you could just say “it was a lot of work for our team” or something banal like that. I honestly don’t feel like there’s a really good go-to equivalent – I find myself struggling in my native language to say what I mean when what I mean is anstrengend haha
Oh whoops I just completely forgot what the actual example was XD – I had an “anstrengendes Projekt” in my head.
For belastend, I think “was/put a strain on the team” is quite good, or “was a burden” as Nisha suggests (though that might sound a bit more literary?).
I’d agree it works better as a noun in English but I could not explain why.
Just wondering if “strenuous” is the adjective for “to strain”
Just checked etymonline.com, and they’re not kin. “strenuous” ties in with “stern” and “strain” belongs to a different family, according to the entries there.
However, when you poke around a bit, you can see mentions of an old English word that looks an awful lot like German “strecken”, which then would indeed mean that “strain” and “stringent” do ultimately tie in to the same tree as “stern” or “stark”.
Not enough evidence for science, enough indications for a good story and mental map :)
Sumienie – Polish. Like two men meet in London park on a bench. One of them drinks whisky. He just came from Poland. The other one, who’s been there for a while already, says “you have no ‘sumienie’ to drink such a thing.” And produces a two-liter plastic bottle of cider.
Ah, looks like this one is related to Bulgarian “съмнявам” (semnjavam) which means “to doubt”. I think it might tie in with the Indo-European root *men- which is also where “mind” and “comment” is from. A “comment” is basically a “co-thought”.
Willkommen zurück!
I missed the long(ish) articles so much. (I know the site has literally hundreds of longish articles for us to read during the holidays, aber die neuen Artikels haben das gewisse Etwas. I like the human element behind posting comments and reading your replies. The whole process gives more depth and meaning to my learning experience)
About your question, in Arabic, conscience is ضمير, pronounced as Dameer (with a very deep D and a long E sound). As far as I know it comes from hiding, probably since no one else knows what you have in your conscience. It also has the meaning of closeness, and it makes sense, you can’t be closer to anything than to what you have in your heart. Fun fact: the word for conscience is related to the word for racetrack. Talk about mind yoga :)
P.s. It’s the first time ever I notice the word science in conscience. Its spelling has confused me since forever but now it’s super easy to wrtie :)
The arabic word ضمير dameer comes from the verbe أضمر admara that means to hide. Dameer is our hidden self that watches our actions through the lens of good and evil.
I know you enjoy the subtleties of English, so here‘s one. Clear conscience is probably what the dictionary says, and is more common, but…
To my ear, a clean conscience = did something iffy, but then corrected it (I apologized, beause I needed to cleanse my conscience), while a clear conscience = you consider your single action was correct or justifiable (you acted with a clear conscience).
Any other English speakers notice this?
That makes sense to me, although I still think “clear conscience” would be the default for either. Like, attaining a clean conscience results in having a clear conscience. I’m not sure I’d limit “clear” to a single action – could be an overall state of being. But maybe others would see it differently.
To me, “clear” and “clean” mean the same thing here. “Clear conscience” is just a lot more common, at least in the U.S. Almost like a set phrase. It’s easier to say, too. The “r” leaves you in a good place to say the “c.”
If you take this sentence:
I would always say it like that. “Cleanse my conscience” doesn’t sound wrong, just a little on the fancier side, or maybe regional. “Clean my conscience” would sound kind of strange to me. Too literal, in a “break out the cleaning rag and disinfectant” kind of way.
I’ve asked myself if”clean conscious “ is actually idiomatic for me or if it aounds slightly odd. In any case i wouldnt see a distinction between them. Just my opinion
I wouldn’t say that I notice this difference, but perhaps it is contextual based on country/region/etc. I would say that I more frequently hear that one must “clear their conscience” rather than “cleanse their conscience.” My impression is that it is more typical to describe a conscience as clear and hands as clean, which have roughly the same meaning.
i.e.
My conscience is clear.
I can sleep with a clear conscience.
I needed to do XYZ to clear my conscience.
My hands are clean. (meaning that I have done nothing wrong)
I wash my hands of this (meaning that I take no responsibility for what follows–usually said after you’ve expressed misgivings about something and that person has chosen to ignore your advice).
Also, regarding” a certain something”–this is definitely a common phrase in English! Weirdly it is also not uncommon to describe something as having “a certain je ne sais quoi,” because occasionally we import French phrases whole cloth…?
OMG, I’d love to hear that French phrase with that thick American accent in conversation one day :D
Ask and you shall receive :) Example 1. Example 2.
And my two cents about this:
The uncertainty about whether the company will go bankrupt is very stressful for the team.
That’s the first way it would roll off my tongue if I said it. “Taxing” is fine, but “stressful” is the word that would just be there, no thinking about it. “Straining” is a no go.
“is very hard on the team” would also work.
Haha yeah “taxing” was my fault because I had a complete brain fart and forgot the actual scenario of the example.
I thought of je ne sais quoi as well when I was reading that part, but my understanding is that the literal translation is more like “I don’t know what.” So “He has that certain I don’t know what.” Which still works for me because we often use the word something when we don’t really know how to describe or put our finger on what it is we mean.
I’ve never heard of clean consciousness. American or British English?
This really is very interesting!
“That certain something” definitely works in English
Yup. I think “a certain something” might be equally or more common, but both are totally idiomatic.