Weltschmerz definition

English Weltschmerz definition

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛltˌʃmɛːts/, /-ˌʃmɜːts/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɛltˌʃmɝts/
• Hyphenation: Welt‧schmerz

Noun

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

• weltschmerz

Translations

See also

• weight of the world

References

Further reading

• Weltschmerz on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

German Weltschmerz definition

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛltˌʃmɛʁt͡s/

• Audio 1

  (file)

• Audio 2

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Welt‧schmerz

Noun

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.

2. (colloquial, often humorous) causeless sadness, undue self-pity

   Jetzt mal Schluss mit dem Weltschmerz!

   Now stop pitying yourself!

Declension

Descendants

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

Further reading

• “Weltschmerz” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Weltschmerz” in Duden online
• “Weltschmerz”, in Online-Wortschatz-Informationssystem Deutsch (in German), Mannheim: Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, 2008–
• “Weltschmerz” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Polish Weltschmerz definition

Alternative forms

• weltszmerc

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Weltschmerz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛlt.ʂmɛrt͡s/
• Rhymes: -ɛltʂmɛrt͡s
• Syllabification: Welt‧schmerz
• Homophone: weltszmerc

Noun

Weltschmerz m inan

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

Declension

Further reading

• Weltschmerz in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• Weltschmerz in Polish dictionaries at PWN