Word of the week: spazieren gehen

Spazieren gehen- sich in gemütlichem Tempo zu Fuß fortbewegen, meist ohne Ziel (to walk at a comfortable pace, most of the time without a goal [destination])


It may seem at first glance that my first attempt at a word of the week post is rather uninspired, but hear me out. When you talk about walking in German, naturally there are different kinds of walking to consider. The verb I’ve chosen is one used quite often as something to do on a nice day, or when you come home from work and want a little fresh air, or just any time you feel like not being inside. This is contrasted to the verb “zu Fuß gehen” (to go by foot, to walk), which is not so much an activity in and of itself as spazieren gehen is, but rather, a way of getting somewhere. When you use this you are saying that you went somewhere by foot, so since there is a destination (Ziel) it’s understood in a different manner, namely recreation (spazieren gehen) vs. mode of transportation (zu Fuß gehen).

There are even more verbs which all describe the same activity but have very distinct connotations. Another example is “latschen” which I cannot think of a direct English translation for (traipse?) and I’m pretty sure is an informal kind of German. In any case, it is still understood as walking, but therefore it is probably used to describe a longer trip that made you tired at the end. When you use this word you aren’t necessarily recalling the experience as a pleasant one. Another one I like is “bummeln,” which is basically the same as spazieren gehen but slower and more often than not a way to pass the time. For example, when you have an hour to kill before you meet up with someone or what you do in Aachen on a Sunday afternoon after having coffee and cake.

So going back to the original word of the week, I wanted to describe where I went on a recent walk. There’s a little hill close by called the Lousberg, which offers a nice view of Aachen and a little nature to boot. At the base of the hill is a statue containing a story used to tell the origin of the Lousberg. 

Side note: some German words are simply a sum of their parts, so to deduce the meaning of the name we look at the parts, namely Berg, which in German means “mountain.” Then we come to the first part of the name “lous,” there are a couple other explanations offered, but the one depicted in this statue is that in the Aachener dialect (Oecher) “lous,” is understood in German as “schlau” (clever, sly, tricky). So this is a tricky mountain? Well, the story presented on the statue explains that the mountain itself isn’t clever, but rather the events that resulted in its creation have some examples of trickery. There are other versions of the origin of the Lousberg, but I quite like this one.

Get ready my friends, because to explain this story (of the Lousberg) I have to tell another story! Another notable landmark in Aachen is the Dome. It is over 1200 years old (the oldest cathedral in northern Europe) and according to a story about the construction of the Dome, the celver Aacheners convinced the devil to help them build the massive cathedral by pulling a classic bait and switch. In exchange for a large sum of money, the Aacheners promised to give the devil the soul of the first human who entered the cathedral upon its completion, but they actually presented the devil with a wolf they’d hunted in the forest. As expected the devil reacted quite aggresively to this and in his rage pounded on a door. This story explains an imprint still present on a cathedral door.

So the devil is pissed and true to form feels a spot of revenge is in order. He goes all the way to the North Sea and collects a bunch of sand in a sack with the intent of burying Aachen’s cathedral. He shleps (fun fact, shlep is a loan word in English from the German word schleppen, to carry [something heavy]) this ton of sand back in the direction of Aachen. Keep in mind that the Lousberg sits just outside the city. The story goes that as the devil was carrying this bunch of sand he got a bit tired and along his way came across an old woman and asked her how much further until Aachen. The woman was quite clever as she noticed that the man asking had a hoof for a foot and explained “Look at my shoes, I got them new in Aachen today and here they are tattered from the long journey.” The devil did not feel like carrying this sand much further, so in a fit of anger he threw the sack of sand on the ground and left. This is just one story of the Lousberg.

 Me and my mom atop the Lousberg, you can see the Dome behind in the distance.  

That was the word of the week, when was the last time you went for a walk?