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Überkreuzbeteiligungen haltenden Teilfonds
Musterprotokoll

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Vokabeldämmerung

English translation:

Degeneration of language

Added to glossary by Lucy Jones
Jun 26, 2012 12:39
11 yrs ago
German term

Vokabeldämmerung

German to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Politics
Heimatkunde, Vokabeldämmerung, Löschmaschinen, Neuronengewitter und Grenzen der Geschichte sind nur einige Themen, denen sich die Tagung „Kulturen des Bruchs“ im Haus der Berliner Festspiele widmet. Das von der Kulturstiftung des Bundes einberufene Symposium versammelt Historiker, Schriftsteller, Kultur- und Theaterwissenschaftler, um in „Zeiten forcierter historischer Selbstvergewisserung nach dem Nutzen und Nachteil des Vergessens für unser Leben zu fragen.

Vokabeldämmerung seems to exist in other contexts such as here:
http://www.google.de/search?q=Vokabeldämmerung&ie=utf-8&oe=u...
But I can't find an adequate explanation for it in English. Help much appreciated!
Proposed translations (English)
3 Degeneration of language
3 +3 twilight of the words
3 +2 the Decline and Fall of Language
4 disappearing of words
3 dwindling vocabulary
3 vocabulary dusk
3 the decline of diction
3 Diminished words
2 vocab armageddon/doomsday
References
Flyer for the event in question

Discussion

Horst Huber (X) Jul 4, 2012:
To my humble sense, "Vokabeldämmerung", for all its popularity in academe and on the conference circuit, is plainly a miserable concoction. "Vokabeln" -- they are all for grammar school pupils to memorize, but with the pomp or poetry of "Dämmerung" we get at best a mixed metaphor, not to say a verquatschte Pointe. Real words may rise, shine or fade away, but Vokabeln we should rather consign to the lists of pedantry.
Lancashireman Jun 26, 2012:
It's The End Of The Word As We Know It REM: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eyFiClAzq8
BrigitteHilgner Jun 26, 2012:
As far as I manage to understand the comments ... found in cyberspace the term seems to express the fact that words lose their traditional meaning, become more or less meaningless.
we-translations Jun 26, 2012:
Does it need to be translated? It seems to me to be a play on Götterdämmerung, i.e. decline/downfall of the Words vs. the Gods. So possibly just use the German word?

Proposed translations

5 days
Selected

Degeneration of language

to keep the rather negative connotation I took this from a similar outlook on the change of language:

"If the changes we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of humanity? it remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure. Life may be lengthened by care, though death cannot be ultimately defeated: tongues, like governments, have a natural tendency to degeneration; we have long preserved our constitution, let us make some struggles for our language."
Samuel Johnson: Preface to the Dictionary
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Excellent, thank you. I think that hits the vein perfectly."
34 mins

disappearing of words

I think that the meaning of Vokabeldämmerung here has to do with the loss of words in the modern world, and I also found a similar term Kirchendämmerung and it has to do with the loss of trust in churches
Peer comment(s):
neutral Kate Collyer : is it about words actually disappearing, or just not being used?
1 hr
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+3
40 mins

twilight of the words

Probably a play on twilight of the gods (Götterdämmerung).
Peer comment(s):
agree Horst Huber (X) : Maybe omit the definite article? We may have to keep the Wagnerian touch, but unlike "the" gods, only some words seem to meet with this fade-out.
1 hr
neutral Kate Collyer : I completely agree about the reference, but I'm not sure the link is sufficiently evident in English
1 hr
neutral Ilse Schwender : excuse me, but for me is it an enumeration of topics of art, poetry and not the content of a poem.
2 hrs
agree Thayenga : Twilight was also my first though. Yes, omitting the article lets the sentence flow better. :)
2 hrs
agree BrigitteHilgner : Highly poetic. I like it.
6 hrs
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1 hr

vocab armageddon/doomsday

too strong?
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2 hrs

dwindling vocabulary

loses the Wagner but gains in clarity and has a touch of poetry, even pathos
Peer comment(s):
neutral Ilse Schwender : you would have the agree, butit isn't a poem
14 mins
opera is poetic though, and the sense of mourned loss (i.e. pathos) is implied both in the Wagner and in this context
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+2
4 hrs

the Decline and Fall of Language

Provided the Wagnerian theme is not too embedded in the remainder of the presentation, a reference to a work of similar weight in English (albeit literature) might work.
Peer comment(s):
agree Kate Collyer : Great thinking, Wolf!
51 mins
Thanks Kate :-)
agree Vikki Pendleton
6 hrs
Thanks Vikki.
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4 hrs

vocabulary dusk

to realize the vocabulary
Example sentence:

He got a vocabulary dusk.

Reference:

http://www.linguee.com

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7 hrs

the decline of diction

loss of language
vanishing vocabulary
words in the gloaming
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13 hrs

Diminished words

It seems to me that we deal with lessened or decreased meaning in language and/or words in this talk. The guiding theme of this symposiums is dealing with a changing world and with Vergessen. It also reflects in the use and meaning of language.
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Reference comments

34 mins
Reference:

Flyer for the event in question

I presume that you've seen all this, but it might be of some help in working out what the word is getting at... The second link is a slightly longer version.

I notice that the event above the Vokabeldämmerung is described as a Walküren-Ritt in keeping with the Wagnerian theme.
Reference:

http://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/media/2012/einzelveranstaltungen/downloads_12/einzel12_flyer_kulturen_des_bruchs.pdf

http://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/cms/de/sparten/wort_und_wissen/kulturen_des_bruchs/index.html

Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Anne Schulz : Thank you!
5 hrs
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