Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll have a look at the meaning of
stützen
The closest English relative is the word stud, and just in case you don’t know what that is… that’s the word that gives you pictures of bolts, knobs, young potent looking men and (male) horses when you enter it in Google image search. Wow, quite the scope, right? But it’s nothing compared to the scope of the whole family that stud belongs to. There’s stand and stay. And state and stead. And station and stadium. And stow and stool and stall. And German stehen (stand) and stellen (put, “make stand”) and Stadt (city) and Staat (country, state) and Stau (jam, traffic jam). Wow.
All these words (as well as for Spanish estar and others) come from the Indo European root *sta which was about the basic idea of standing. Crazy… I never realized how close Stau and stay really are… I mean… that’s the essence of a traffic jam. You stand, you stay where you are. And I think the idea of standing is visible in all of the words, once you know it’s there.
Wait, even for stud? Well, that’s a tricky one. Stud used to be two different words. One started out as sort of pillar, upright object and over time that got “smaller” and so it became bolt, knob. The meaning of the other version was “place for a herd of horses you keep for breeding” . Kind of like stables. German still has the word das Gestüt which is a stud farm. But people started using the word for the horses and so stud ended up as a word for (potent) stallion. The same happened in German. Well… almost the same. Because in German, a Stute is a not a stallion… it’s a female horse, a mare, which is where the word marshal comes from, by the way. And while mare is she-horse in English, the German word Mähre is more like a shit horse. An old, slow horse is called Mähre.
But hey, enough with the horse talk… let’s get to our actual word of the day stützen. Stützen is what you need if something standing would fall over. Like… a precise description would be “prevent from falling down by pushing from below or the sides”.
And you can use it in a literal sense or figuratively.
- Die Säulen stützen die Decke.
- The columns support the ceiling.
- Der Präsident stützt den Minister.
- The president carries/supports/backs the secretary.
Now you might be like “Hey, so it’s like to support, right?”. Well… yes and no. In practice stützen more often than not ISN’T the proper translation for to support. But we’ll get back to that in a second.
Stützen is also used in sense of resting some weight somewhere and again it can be used in both literal and figurative contexts
- Der alte Magier stützt sich auf seinen Stock.
- The old wizard rests/steadies himself on his cane.
- Wenn mein Boss seine Hände in die Hüften stützt, ist das ein Zeichen dafür, dass er genervt ist.
- Whenever my boss puts/rests his hands on his hips, that’s a sign that he is annoyed.
- Der Lehrer stützt seine Methode auf Neurologie.
- The teacher draws support for his theory from/rests his theory neurology.
Of course, there are lots of related words with stützen. Some with just the stem stütz and others with the noun die Stütze.
- Die App ermöglicht ein computergestütztes Schreiben von Liebesgedichten.
- The App provides computer assisted writing of love poems.
- Russland hat einen Marinestützpunkt in Tartus in Syrien.
- Russia has a marine base in Tartus, Syria.
- Der Stützbalken ist aus Eiche.
- The supporting beam is made from oak.
- Maria ist sauer, weil Thomas sich über ihre Stützstrümpfe lustig gemacht hat.
- Maria is pissed because Thomas mocked/laughed at her support stockings.
- Der Hund als Gedankenstütze – viele Hundebesitzer verwenden den Namen ihres Vierbeiners als Teil ihrer Passwörter.
- The dog as an mnemonic device (lit.: thought support) – many dog owners use their four legged friend’s name as part of their passwords.
- Ich mache jeden Morgen Liegestütze.
- I do push ups every morning.
The noun die Stütze is also colloquial term for unemployment money.
- Das ist Mike. Mike lebt seit 10 Jahren von Stütze. Er fühlt sich von Merkel und der Politik verraten.
- Meet Mike. Mike lives on welfare for 10 years. He feels betrayed by Merkel.
What die Stütze DOESN’T mean is the support. The proper translation for that is die Unterstützung. And brings us back to the verb. Stützen alone support in a construction sense and at times in a figurative sense of keeping in power. But not for the every day support as in supporting an idea or supporting someone. The right word for that is unterstützen.
- Ich stütze Thomas.
- Ich unterstütze Thomas
The first one sounds like I’m holding Thomas under your shoulder so he doesn’t fall over. The second one is the standard “I support Thomas”.
Now, I think that the German unterstützen is a bit more hands on or active than the English support.
- Maria unterstützt den Kandidaten.
To me, that sounds like she is actively involved in the campaign or she’s donating money or doing something actively while
- Maria supports the candidate
can mean that she just likes his ideas or is just generally on his side.
But for the most part, the two words are pretty good translations.
- “Warum isst du kein Fleisch?”
“Ich will die Fleischindustrie nicht unterstützen.“ - “Why do you not eat meat?”
“I don’t want to support the meat industry.”
- Maria hat Thomas sehr unterstützt, als es ihm schlecht ging.
- Maria has been there for Thomas, when he was going through a rough patch.
- Danke für eure Unterstützung.
- Thank you for your support/help.
- Bier – unterstützt gute Laune seit Jahrhunderten.
- Beer – supporting good mood for centuries.
Cool.
Now, of course unterstützen isn’t the only prefix version. There’s a couple more. The first one is sich aufstützen and that sounds very specific but it’s something we do every day. Sich aufstützen is the verb for resting some of your weight on your arms. Like… when you rest your head in your palm and the elbow on the table in a boring German class… that is sich aufstützen.
“Nicht aufstützen, Emanuel.“… I heard that quite a lot back in school. Nicht aufstützen, nicht kippeln, nicht schlafen, nicht auf das Buch urinieren… maaaaan, school was like a freaking jail.
Anyway… examples.
- Wenn Maria sich am Esstisch aufgestützt hat ist ihre Oma immer ausgerastet.
- Whenever Maria would rest her head on her arms at the dinner table her grandma would lose it completely.
- Bitte nicht aufstützen!
- Please don’t rest (your weight) on the railing!
(possible sign on a railing or balustrade that needs fixing)
- Wenn ich mich aufstütze tut mein Handgelenk weh.
- When I “put part of my body weight on my wrist” it hurts.
The other prefix version is abstützen and that is basically a variation of the stand alone stützen. Abstützen in context of construction sounds a bit more temporary and make shift than stützen and when you combine it with sich it’s about steadying oneself with some notion of upward.
- Die Balken stützen die Wand ab.
- The beams support the wall.
- Stützen Sie sich mit den Händen am Boden ab, und heben Sie langsam Ihr Becken.
- Put your hands on the floor for support and then slowly raise your pelvis.
(could be from a yoga tutorial… no idea, if that is idiomatic English. Please help :)
But abstützen is nothing you really need to know actively. It’s enough to understand it when you see it.
And I think that’s it for today. This was our look at a bunch of horse vocabulary… and the meaning of stützen :). It comes from the same root as stud and to stand and it’s about supporting something, making sure it doesn’t stürzen. Stürzen means to fall, by the way.
And if you’re now like “Wait, stürzen… stützen… they’re almost identical!! Are they related? What’s going on here?? How can a word mean to support and the other to fall?”
Well, they are related. But we’ll talk about stürzen some other time ;).
As always, if you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time.
** vocab **
stützen – support (literal, construction… also in sense of keeping in power)
sich stützen auf – rest one’s weight on
der Stützpunkt – the base
der(die) Liegestütz(e) – one push up/push ups
die Gedankenstütze – mnemonic device
die Stütze – colloquial term for unemployment money
unterstützen – support (people, ideas)
die Unterstützung – the support
der Unterstützer – the supporter
sich aufstützen – rest some of one’s weight on one’s arms, usually on a table or something
abstützen – variation of stützen, in context of construction it sounds make-shift
die Stute – the mare
der Hengst – the stud
das Gestüt – the stud farm
die Mähre – old, slow horse… also used for old slow cars
I love this blog. I couldn’t get into other German-learning pages or books, because I’m picky as hell, but this… I can follow it effortlessly.
Great to hear that :).
Ein weiterer großartiger Beitrag!
Thank you very much for this. Learning German isn’t for the faint of heart and I need all the Unterstützung I can get :)
Ach, übrigens, how would the following be rendered:
I support your decision
He supports his family
He supports himself
Which team do you support?
Danke im Voraus!
Hmm… I can kind of see “unterstützen” in 1,2 and 3 adn even 4 but it depends on context.
For example in number 4:
– Welches Team unterstützt du? (giving money or labor or other “real” support)
– Welches ist dein Lieblingsteam?” (general)
– Für welches Team bist du?” (in one game or one tournament
Could you maybe give me an example sentence for each case? That would help me understand what context you have in mind.
The third one is the one I had in mind. for the rest I meant “financial support”.
Here are some detailed examples for 2 and 3:
“He worked full-time to support his family”
“My son is 20, supports himself”
Also I’ve come across this sentence:
“Die Auswahl stützt sich auf folgende Kriterien”
“support” doesn’t seem to make sense here
“he worked full time…”
I would say “versorgen” because it seems like a “complete” support, not just a supporting support (which would be “unterstützen”
“Mein Sohn ist 20 und sorgt für sich selber/ist finanziell unabhängig/steht auf eigenen Beinen.”
Same here… it’s “complete” support as in “sustain” and that is not what “unterstützen” is.
As for “die Auswahl”… the verb is “sich stützen”. Think of it as “steady oneself” if that helps. If you want to use support then you’d need a passive because the selection is what is being supported. Hope that helps.
It does help. Thanks Emmanurl and keep up the good work!
شكرا
Emanuel, Ich finde dieses Blog die Beste Methode, die Deutschsprache richtig zu begreifen. Herzlichen Wünsche und Danke für die Interessanten Einsehen!
Danke dir für das schöne Feedback :). Eine kleine Korrektur:
– die interessanten Einsichten.
nicht “Einsehen”. “Das Einsehen” is more like “the understanding” in sense of someone accepting something he or she has been denying/negating. It’s pretty rare.
Now that I think of it.. the best would actually be “Einblicke” because “Einsicht” can also lean toward accepting.
It’s really good to see blogs such like this helping out with German learning online. German is an amazing but a hard language to learn. I still remember when students at the time of enrolling for their tuition with us ask, will we be able to speak and write in a week? the hope on their face cannot be explained. But for students that find German too hard to understand we get them engaged with similar words in German and English.
Hi Emanuel,
I`m a beginner in learning german and I dont get 1 thing in this sentence:
Maria hat Thomas sehr unterstützt, als es ihm schlecht ging.
Why`s with that “ihm” it majes no sense fr me to be there??
That’s part of the standard phrasing to tell how you feel. here are some examples that you might know:
– Es geht mir schlecht.
– Es geht mir gut.
– Wie geht es dir?
You always have this Dative self reference in there.
Hope that helps.
It did help, thanks a lot.
Do yo know whether the word “stutzen” is related? I mean it means to shorten something or cut down on something but if “stürzen” is related why not “stutzen”?
Thanks for another great article.
So I checked and it looks like they’re actually not related. The main meaning of “stutzen” used to be the one with “stutzig” and that came from the idea of suddenly getting stiff. The verb then got influenced by the meaning of the noun “der Stutzen” which I know from Karl May novels as a short powder gun but which is more generally a short stump. They’re all part of the family of “stoßen”. You “stoßen” your horse, it stiffens. You “stoßen” something against a wall, you’ll have a stump like thing.
It’s quite a stretch, but it sort of makes sense I think.
Übrigens… ich nehme mal an, dass deine Mailadresse nicht richtig ist. Kannst du mir bitte mal eine Mail schicken? Du kommentierst so viel, da wollte ich dir einen Memberplatz anbieten.
Natürlich ist das meine richtige Mailadresse. Warum sollte ich eine falsche angeben? Zugegeben, ich war nicht sehr kreativ, als ich mir den Namen ausgedacht habe. Aber wenigstens ist sie schön anonym, verrät nicht gleich jedem meinen Vornamen und mein Geburtsjahr. Es ist natürlich nicht meine Haupt-E-Mailadresse, aber ich benutze sowieso Thunderbird, da macht das keinen Unterschied, wo die E-Mail ankommt. Das mit dem Memberplatz wäre übrigens sehr nett von dir. Aber inzwischen ist viel Zeit vergangen, ich habe deine Antwort hier nicht mitbekommen, also fühl dich zu nichts verpflichtet.
Trotzdem danke für den Gedanken.
Der Henrystutzen, der Bärentöter und die Silberbüchse. Karl May war schon sehr erfindungsreich. Ich habe mal gehört, dass er das Wort “anhobbeln” erfunden haben soll (für das Anbinden von Pferden bzw. deren Beine zusammenzubinden).
Hey, na klar steht das Angebot noch :). Ich hab dich grad angemeldet.