Seele
German
Alternative forms
- Seel, Seel' (poetic)
Etymology
From Middle High German sēle, from Old High German sēula, sēla, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō. Cognate with Low German Seel, Dutch ziel, English soul, Danish sjæl.
The type of bread is probably related to Allerseelen (“All Souls' Day”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈzeːlə/ (Germany)
Audio: (file) (Germany)
- IPA(key): /ˈseːlɛ/ (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)
- Rhymes: -eːlə
Noun
Seele f (genitive Seele, plural Seelen, diminutive Seelchen n)
- soul
- 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Vor dem Thor”, in Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil [Faust, Part One][1]; republished as Bayard Taylor, transl., 1870:
- Zwey Seelen wohnen, ach! in meiner Brust, / Die eine will sich von der andern trennen;
- Two souls, alas! reside within my breast, / And each withdraws from, and repels, its brother.
- 1974, “Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen”, Kurt Demmler (lyrics), Michael Heubach (music), performed by Nina Hagen:
- Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen, bei meiner Seel'
- You forgot the colour film, by my soul
- 1997, “Sie wollen uns erzählen”, in Es ist egal, aber, performed by Tocotronic:
- Sie wollen uns erzählen / Sie hätten eine Seele
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- mind, spirit
- (by extension) human being, soul
- (firearms) bore (of a gun)
- (anatomy) swim bladder
- (electrical engineering) core (of an electric cable)
- (dated or colloquial) inhabitant (of a municipality)
- das 500-Seelen-Dorf ― the 500-person village; the town of 500 souls
- (lutherie) sound post
- Synonym: Stimmstock
- (baking, Southern Germany) a type of narrow bread from Swabia
Declension
Declension of Seele [feminine]
Derived terms
Related terms
See also
Further reading
- “Seele” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Seele” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Seele” in Duden online
- Seele on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
Hunsrik
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈseːlə/
Noun
Seele f
- plural of Seel
Saterland Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian sēla, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwalu, from Proto-Germanic *saiwalō. More at soul.
Noun
Seele f