Exhausted Creature Achieved
"Ladle steel 18j07" by Snowmanradio - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.
We've achieved a lot this year. It's wearing me out. But we're getting through it and the year is nearly exhausted, as well. A few related words with a common root 1 are useful here.
- schöpfen
- schaffen
schöpfen
It means to create. Or to scoop, as in dip or ladle. You can derive a whole bunch of words from this one.
Schöpfung
Creation, in the grander religious or philosophical sense.
Schöpflöffel
Ladle, like for serving soup.
Erschöpfung
Physiological exhaustion; when all the energy has been scooped out of the soup terrine that is your being.
Geldschöpfung / Wertschöpfung
Corporate-speak: "value-add." At least the German version feels less like a Bullshit Bingo double-score square.
Ausschöpfung
Also exhaustion, but maybe less pertinent to the human condition. Think "exhaustion of available resources."
Geschöpf
Creature, like a monster or mythical being, but also like "creature of habit."
unerschöpflich
Inexhaustible. The opposite of this list.
schaffen
This one is tricky because it's almost like two different verbs, subtly different in their meanings and visibly distinct only in their past-tense forms.
schaffen (weak conjugation)
schaffen / schaffte / geschafft
- to accomplish something
- to achieve something
- to manage (to do) something
- to work (in Southern dialects)
schaffen (strong conjugation)
schaffen / schuf / geschaffen
- to create
- to execute (a work of art)
Abschaffung
Abolition. From the transitive one, past tenseschaffte, abgeschafft.
Anschaffung
Acquisition, in the commercial sense.
Beschaffung
Procurement. Work in a large corporate environment? Surely you've seen utterly superfluous busy-work processes and projects and immediately identified them as Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahmen (ABM), even if you didn't know that word for the at the time.
freischaffend
Self-employed. Which could the motivation for a Kapitalbeschaffung or the result of your Arbeitsbeschaffungsmaßnahme failing.
Kapitalbeschaffung
The raising of funds.
Schaffensfreude
Kind of a polar opposite to every foreigner's favorite German word Schadenfreude, this means "creative enthusiasm." It's great when you've got it, and insufferable when someone else does.
Schaffner
The guy who checks your ticket on the train. Is he creating something? Achieving something? Managing something? Or just working?
That wraps up 2015 for us -- jetzt sind wir erschöpft und die Zeit ausgeschöpft, und wir haben es gerade noch geschafft.