Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll take a look at the meaning and family of
handeln
But we’ll need some mind bending today, so let’s stretch our brains together a little to warm up.
Handeln is of course related to English to handle and they both come from the old Germanic noun*handeigh which was the word for “portable phone”. Back then, it was much harder to see each other in person because there were no cars and no planes and the people were practically dependent on their cellphones to keep in touch. Just as Cesar noted in his diary…
Germanum sine portabile in mano rarum est.
That’s Latin. In my dreams anyway.
Anyway, the tribesmen were always with their phone, and so it’s no wonder they eventually came up with the word hand which literally meant “thing that holds the portable phone”.
Everybody thinking “What the hell?” yet?!?! Yes?
Well, perfect. Your brain is all warmed up now, ready for real info. So let’s jump right in…
