PF Wordsmiths

[JAD]

As one who occasionally makes things with my own hands and by participating in the management of engineering and manufacturing processes, and has a long-time love/hate relationship with various products of German industry, I would be very interested in an explanation. Got sources?

I was kidding. You can tell because I didn't use a footnote¹.







¹Like this one.

[P30]

Yet they don't have a word for "kick".

No, no, the German verb "treten" means the same as "to kick". And the noun "Tritt" means the kick.

We don't have a short word for "glove". We call it "Handschuh" which means: A shoe for the hand. We often construct words out of two or more other words. Sometimes it's cool because it's self-explanatory. But sometimes the words become too long and hard to read (I think, then the structure should be made explicit by hyphens).

[P30]

(deleted by myself, was not quite correct, I proposed "Hochachtung")

[0ddl0t]

Todd saw a friend in the lobby, said friend was Ernest Langdon. Todd introduced us and I was...in shock.

Yes! That is precisely the type of moment/feeling I am talking about. I could have sworn there was a word for it...

Dulia, or servitus— a theological term which distinguishes the ‘worship ‘ that might be applied to saints and angels (hyperdulia for the Blessed Mother) as opposed to the latria that is given to God alone. Adoration is another, maybe deeper word for worship.

Genuflect

There is in deed a German word for it. And I'm not proud of it:

"Obrigkeitshörigkeit"

Quite long word. It has two parts:

1. "Obrigkeit": This literally means the ones above you. In most cases, it means the government. Linguee.de translates it as "authority".
2. "Hörigkeit": This literally means to listen and to follow like a slave. Linguee translates it as "bondage".

Why I'm not proud of it: In Nazi Germany, there have been too many people who were "obrigkeitshörig". And I still know some people who are today. Don't know, if there are more of this kind in Germany than in other countries. I think the Italians are better in this regard, they don't care so much about the law. For me, the Golden Rule is paramount. If the law is a refinement of the Golden Rule: Great. If not, then the law is bad.

Many people in East Germany are quite cool in this regard. Many of them are not "obrigkeitshörig" at all. They remember what the communist regime did to them not long ago (lying and suppressing).

Thanks - all good guesses, but I think my "not worthy" gif may have emphasized the wrong aspect. These words are in the ballpark, but they tend more toward the action after this realization, rather than the feeling/realization itself.

Enthralled, comes to mind.

Very very close, yes. Maybe more like when you realize you're enthralled - that thunderbolt moment LL described when meeting Langdom.

[P30]

Does anyone know which word denotes the awe and humility felt when encountering someone on a much higher (ability) level than you?

linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/search?query=Ehrfurcht

It has both aspects: humility and awe. In a positive way. The adressee has deserved it, he or she did something extremely great. Don't know an English word for it. The word is so strong, probably the only adressee to whom the word fits is God.

Linguee translates it as: reverence, awe, veneration.

Article in the German wikipedia about the term: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehrfurcht. I've translated its beginning with deepl:

[Ehrfurcht] is a high-language word for a fear associated with reverence. It always refers to an overpowering (sublime) addressee, whether real or fictitious. It can be individual or common. Being able to feel it is usually regarded as a virtue. [Ehrfurcht] is stronger than "shyness" or "respect", weaker than "submission" or "worship". In the Brockhaus of 1896, [Ehrfurcht] is described as "the highest degree of reverence, the feeling of devotion to what one values more than oneself, be it a person or a spiritual power, such as fatherland, science, church, state, humanity, deity".

[Totem Polar]

starstruck adjective
star·​struck | \ ˈstär-ˌstrək \
Definition of starstruck
: particularly taken with celebrities (such as movie stars)

[JAD]

I like Hochactung for our application, @P30, and think that Ehrfurcht is too holy to use for a person (see my discussion of dulia versus latria in Latin (wherein I was just paraphrasing Augustine, see Confessions)). I have been exposed to the word Ehrfurcht, in a mass in Zurich.

[P30]

But "Hochachtung" does not imply humility. You can feel it for a peer. Maybe I'll find a word between "Hochachtung" and "Ehrfurcht".

PS:
Could be "Überwältigung" ≈ overpowering ≈ overwhelming. But this has strong component of force in it. It has impressed you, was stronger than you, but you don't have to like it very much.

Dulia

Why is this not the word we're looking for? Does it only fit to saints? A slightly more general German term would be "Verehrung". It does not only apply to saints. It can have a devot component in it. But "Verehrung" is something you can also show to a "holde Maid", i.e. a lady that impresses you and who you ador. Don't know if this is what we are looking for.

linguee.de/deutsch-englisch/search?query=Verehrung

[Guerrero]

In all seriousness, I think "humbling" is the word you want.

[P30]

These words are in the ballpark, but they tend more toward the action after this realization, rather than the feeling/realization itself.

Sounds like "overwhelming" ≈ "Überwältigung" to me.

starstruck

Or how about this?