HANDBOOK
OF
GERMAN IDIOMS
BY
M. B. LAMBERT
Richmond Hill High School, New York City
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1910
Copyright, 1910,
BY
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
PREFACE
This collection of German idioms is presented in the hopethat it will prove helpful to teachers and students of the language,and that it may contribute in a modest way toward making thesentence rather than the word the unit of treatment in the studyand acquisition of the language. The German language is fullof idioms, the meaning of which is poorly grasped by the student,because he never becomes liberated from the individual word.
The idioms have been compiled in large part from the Muret-SandersEncyklopädisches Wörterbuch, from the Flügel-Schmidt-TangerWörterbuch der Englischen und Deutschen Sprache, andfrom Hetzel’s Wie der Deutsche spricht. Various considerationsprohibit even an approach to completeness. The same considerationsforbid the use in most instances of more than oneEnglish meaning, although many of the idioms, especially thoseof everyday conversation, have a variety of finely shaded meaningsdepending upon the connotation and intonation. Onlyoccasional use has been made of the vast treasury of proverbsand popular quotations in the language. The alphabeticalarrangement according to key-words, while open to objections,presents itself on the whole as the most practicable.
GERMAN IDIOMS
A
Wer A sagt, muß auch B sagen.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
Ab (= geht ab, gehen ab).
Exit (exeunt).
Vom 1. Januar ab wird dieMiete erhöht.
From the 1st of January therent will be raised.
Er kommt ab und zu. (Cf. Erschreibt dann und wann. Erkam hin und wieder).
He comes now and then.
Er ist das Abbild (von) seinerMutter.
He is the very image of hismother.
Er ist abgeblitzt.
He was rebuffed.
Er brach kurz ab.
He stopped short.
Sie sitzen noch auf der ABC-bank.
They are still beginners.
Es drückt mir das Herz ab.
It breaks my heart.
Es ist noch nicht aller TageAbend.
Don’t crow too soon. He laughsbest who laughs last.
Es ist ein Aber dabei.
There is a but in the matter.
So lasse ich mich nicht abfertigen.
I will not be put off like this.
Ich gebe mich nicht mit solchenLeuten ab.
I have nothing to do with suchpeople.
Der Brief ist mir abhanden gekommen.
I have mislaid (lost) the letter.
Wer abhebt, gibt nicht.
<