Wiktionary

Weltschmerz

See also: weltschmerz

English edit

WOTD – 10 October 2022

Etymology edit

Borrowed from German Weltschmerz, from Welt (“world”) + Schmerz (“physical ache, pain; emotional pain, heartache, sorrow”).[1] The German word was coined by the author Jean Paul (1763–1825) in his novel Selina (posthumously published in 1827).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

Weltschmerz (uncountable)

  1. An apathetic or pessimistic view of life; depression concerning or discomfort with the human condition or state of the world; mal du siècle, world-weariness.
    Synonyms: acedia, ennui
    • 1864 July, “Art. II. 1. Gedichte von Ludwig Uhland. 4th Edition, with Preface by Dr. Holland. […] [book review]”, in John Taylor Coleridge, editor, The Quarterly Review, volume 116, number 231, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 53:
      And in this respect [Ludwig] Uhland presents a marked and useful contrast to the lackadaisical, sentimental, Weltschmerz school, the poets of which trade on their own pretended misery, and, cunningly enough, suggest that their poems must be touching and true in proportion as the authors set themselves forth as peculiarly skilled in bitterness of heart and badness of life.
    • [1891 Michaelmas term, T. A. B., “Weltschmerz”, in The Caian: The Magazine of Gonville and Caius College, volume I, number 2, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: [J. and C. F. Clay, at the University Press for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge], →OCLC, pages 118 and 119:
      [page 118] It speaks well for the general healthiness of the English nation that we have no words corresponding to ‘Weltschmerz’ or ‘Ennui’. The ordinary Englishman experiences neither of these things. […] [page 119] Weltschmerz is a species of disease, a sort of spiritual measles—or to give a more technical diagnosis, it is the revolt of a young soul against the stone and iron of existence. […] ‘Ennui’ only attacks people either of hopeless incapacity or incurable laziness. Weltschmerz on the other hand is a positive, restless, state, a state of protest against the nature of things.
      Treated as a foreign word.]
    • 1892, William Watson, “Preface”, in William Watson, editor, Lyric Love: An Anthology, London, New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page xiii:
      The artificial woe of the ancient armorist, whose days were a perpetual honeyed despair and his nights one long lachrymose vigil, is an extinct literary tradition; but a new, a different, and, alas! a more real sadness has taken its place—the modern world-sadness, the Weltschmerz, which infects all we do and are, not excepting our love-making— […]
    • 1938 April, W. S. Heckscher, “Was This the Face…?”, in Journal of the Warburg Institute, volume I, number 4, London: Warburg Institute, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 297:
      Here we have it at once, blended though it may be with the new elements of purging humour and all-embracing Weltschmerz, in [William] Shakespeare's Hamlet.
    • 1947 April 28, “Art: Berlin’s Best”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Time‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 3 February 2011:
      [Henry] Koerner's painting did have the heaviness, the harsh humor and the all-pervading weltschmerz which characterized German expressionism in the 1920s.
    • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, “Part 3: In the Zone”, in Gravity’s Rainbow, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →ISBN, page 348:
      A man-to-man touch then on his buttoned epaulet. A middle-aged smile full of Weltschmerz.
    • 2001 December, Susan Reifer, “Skiing is Good: Carry the Solitude and Peace of the Mountains with You”, in Rick Kahl, editor, Skiing, volume 54, number 4, Boulder, Colo.: Time4 Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, columns 2–3:
      The country was fat with peacetime prosperity, but lots of people were afflicted with a postwar funk called weltschmerz. They were depressed by what they'd seen of the "civilized" world. Soon whole bunches of people in their 20s and 30s moved to ski towns, checking out of the mainstream altogether. Their goal was no more lofty than having the freedom to spend day after endless day in a peaceful bubble, close to nature and on snow-covered slopes. Here was the weltschmerz antidote—and the birth of the parallel universe.
    • 2002 October, Maya Singer, “Rilo Kiley: The Execution of All Things: Saddle Creek”, in CMJ New Music Monthly, number 106, New York, N.Y.: The CMJ Network, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 46:
      Execution, the band's second record, burns with intense weltschmerz, its existential crises cloaked in buoyant instrumental hooks and shimmery arrangements.

Alternative forms edit

Translations edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ “Weltschmerz, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021; “Weltschmerz, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading edit

German edit

 
German Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia de

Etymology edit

Coined by German writer Jean Paul, from Welt +‎ Schmerz.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈvɛltˌʃmɛʁt͡s/
  • Audio 1(file)
  • Audio 2(file)
  • Hyphenation: Welt‧schmerz

Noun edit

Weltschmerz m (strong, genitive Weltschmerzes, no plural)

  1. Weltschmerz, world-weariness (profound depression regarding the human condition or the state of the world)
    Mein Weltschmerz entspringt aus dem Vergleich zwischen dem Guten, das der Mensch wirken kann, und dem Bösen, das er zu wirken pflegt.
    My weltschmerz originates from a comparison between the good that man can do, and the evil that he is in the habit of doing.
    • 1930–1943, Robert Musil, chapter 26, in Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften [The Man Without Qualities], book 1, Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag, published 1957, page 111:
      Es wäre übrigens möglich gewesen, daß ein gewisser grausamer Weltschmerz in Diotimas Herz gar nicht nach einem Dementi verlangte.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2024 February 25, Jakob Goos, “Der Mensch will leben”, in Der Spiegel‎[2], →ISSN:
      Kriege, Inflation, Klimakatastrophe: Viele Menschen leiden unter den globalen Dauerkrisen. Der Neurowissenschaftler Tobias Esch sagt, wie wir den Weltschmerz überwinden können.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (colloquial, often humorous) causeless sadness, undue self-pity
    Jetzt mal Schluss mit dem Weltschmerz!
    Now stop pitying yourself!

Declension edit

Declension of Weltschmerz [sg-only, masculine, strong]
singular
indef. def. noun
nominative ein der Weltschmerz
genitive eines des Weltschmerzes
dative einem dem Weltschmerz, Weltschmerze1
accusative einen den Weltschmerz

1Now rare, see notes.

Descendants edit

  • → English: Weltschmerz
  • → Polish: Weltschmerz, weltszmerc

Further reading edit

Polish edit

 
Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from German Weltschmerz.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

Weltschmerz m inan

  1. world-weariness, weltschmerz (profound depression regarding the human condition or the state of the world)

Declension edit

Declension of Weltschmerz
singular
nominative Weltschmerz
genitive Weltschmerzu
dative Weltschmerzowi
accusative Weltschmerz
instrumental Weltschmerzem
locative Weltschmerzu
vocative Weltschmerzu

Further reading edit

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