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I have just encountered the word "Zweisamkeit". Till this moment I knew only "Einsamkeit" und "Gemeinsamkeit". Do you know any other words like this?

Spacemile
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3 Answers3

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Double suffixation "-sam" and "-keit"

This admittedly peculiar construct results from a double suffixation. In the first place a noun was turned to an adjective by adding the suffix -sam, then it is turned back to a noun with another suffix "-keit".

Suffix "-sam"

This is a rather old suffix which is already present in Old High German, but also in Old English. It was and still is used to convert a noun to an adjective with the meaning of something being of the kind or nature of the noun it was added to. Later this suffix was also used to convert verbs to adjectives.

  • gemeinsam
  • langsam
  • wirksam

Suffix "-keit/-heit"

The likewise old suffixes "-keit", and "-heit" are both used in the same meaning. Originally it was used for a shape, person, nature, standing but when added to an adjective this was thereby nominalized with the noun being something of the shape or nature of the adjective it was added to.

  • Gesundheit
  • Ewigkeit
  • Wahrheit

When suffixing adjectives from above that were build by suffixing a noun with -sam we end with the resulting double suffixed noun from your examples (which then will have a different meaning from the rooting noun):

  • Gemeinsamkeit
  • Langsamkeit
  • Wirksamkeit

It is not unusual to have constructs being build from several suffixes leading to such hard to decompose words like

  • Wahrhaftigkeit
Em1
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Takkat
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    In this case numerals "ein" and "zwei" were converted to adjectives and after that to nouns. It's pretty much like construction set. – Spacemile Jul 20 '13 at 22:57
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Unter dem Begriff „Zweisamkeit“ versteht man meist ein harmonisches, oft romantisches Zusammensein von zwei Personen, ohne störende andere Personen oder negative Einflüsse.

That means, “Zweisamkeit” is used to describe a harmonic, romantic partnership/situation of 2 people without negative influence of other people or any negative aspect.

Example:

Sandra und Oliver lebten bis zu ihrem Lebensende in harmonischer Zweisamkeit.

Sandra und Oliver verbrachten ihren Urlaub auf einer einsamen Insel in gemütlicher Zweisamkeit.

chirlu
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  • The question was not about meaning. But anyway I appreciate your help. Thank you for the answer. – Spacemile Jul 20 '13 at 22:46
  • Maybe this was not what @KseniaMurach was after, but I like your answer much more, because it focuses on the fact that "Zweisamkeit" is not a regular word like all the others in the list, but a pun playing on "Einsamkeit". (Even though you are citing without giving the source (http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Zweisamkeit)). – bouscher Jul 20 '13 at 23:16
  • I see, in fact I have read the question more in view of the meaning between the words Einsamkeit, Zweisamkeit and Gemeinsamkeit. –  Jul 21 '13 at 19:03
  • Is the first paragraph rather a quote, then please put it in quote blocks and add a link. Or is it your own statement, then please translate to English. An answer should be monolingual (except for examples and quotes) and, preferably, in the same language as the question was asked. – Em1 Jul 21 '13 at 21:41
  • @Em1 It wasn't a quote, it's my own statement but putted into the quote tag because people would write it like this. The question was not about the translation of Zweisamkeit (togetherness), but next time I will put a translation of my examples as well then. –  Jul 21 '13 at 21:46
  • Oh, forget about that. It's fine that the example are in German and you don't need to add a translation. The point is, I didn't read your answer, just realized your second paragraph starts with "That means". I was thinking that you explain your first paragraph "Unter dem Begriff...", but now I see that this is a translation rather than a explanation. That is, everything's OK. Sorry for that. – Em1 Jul 22 '13 at 06:59
  • @Em1: Oh, and I thought you are talking about the examples which aren't in fact not translated. Like you said, everything's OK. :) –  Jul 22 '13 at 07:48
  • @netsetter Well, as stated above the most part of your first paragraph is a quote, or did you write the wiktionary article (see under "Bedeutung")? Even if you quote yourself, please mark it as a quote and give the source, because your sources might be helpful to other members of the board, especially the one asking the question: http://de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Zweisamkeit – bouscher Jul 22 '13 at 08:30
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I made a quick search in some word lists and found 133 words with ~samkeit.

There are many repetition because of compound words.

Achtsamkeit Alleinwirksamkeit Alltagswirksamkeit Anhaltsamkeit Anschmiegsamkeit Antigenwirksamkeit Arbeitsamkeit Artilleriewirksamkeit Aufmerksamkeit Außenwirksamkeit Außenwirkung/Außenwirksamkeit Bedachtsamkeit Bedeutsamkeit Behutsamkeit Beredsamkeit Bergeinsamkeit Beschäftigungswirksamkeit Betriebsamkeit Biegsamkeit Bildsamkeit Bildwirksamkeit Breitenwirksamkeit Buchgelehrsamkeit Büchergelehrsamkeit Bühnenwirksamkeit Datensparsamkeit Daueraufmerksamkeit Dreisamkeit Duldsamkeit Ehrsamkeit Eigenbedeutsamkeit Einfühlsamkeit Einprägsamkeit Einsamkeit Empfindsamkeit Energiegenügsamkeit Enthaltsamkeit Erfolgswirksamkeit Erholsamkeit Exportwirksamkeit Fachgelehrsamkeit Feldeinsamkeit Feuerwirksamkeit Finanzwirksamkeit Folgsamkeit Friedsamkeit Furchtsamkeit Fügsamkeit Gehorsamkeit Gelehrsamkeit Gemeinsamkeit Genügsamkeit Geruhsamkeit Geschichtswirksamkeit Gesetzesgelehrsamkeit Gewaltsamkeit Gottesgelehrsamkeit Grausamkeit Grundaufmerksamkeit Grundgemeinsamkeit Hauptaufmerksamkeit Heilsamkeit Höhenruderwirksamkeit Hörsamkeit Kanzelberedsamkeit Kleidsamkeit

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knut
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  • Thank you. That's really impressive. How did you manage to get that list? – Spacemile Jul 20 '13 at 22:48
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    Many of these words are rather unusual to put it politely - what source did you use to generate this list? – Takkat Jul 21 '13 at 08:08
  • Kanzelberedsamkeit :D – Emanuel Jul 21 '13 at 09:15
  • I linked the script for my search. I used wordlists from http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/491/where-can-i-find-a-parsable-list-of-german-words?lq=1 (The script contains the source links - I don't know if they are still valid. – knut Jul 21 '13 at 13:02