Last week I received the weekly newsletter from Jono Hey from Sketchplanations, which was about animal collective nouns. In English we have a lovely variety of animal collective nouns, you most likely have heard quite a few of them.
It made me wonder if they are just as funny in German.
They are if you translate them literally, but sadly, the proper words aren’t as funny.
So, because they’re funny, here is the list from Jono’s email with literal translations into German.
- A tower of giraffes – ein Turm von Giraffen
- A crash of rhinos – ein Unfall von Nashörnern
- A galaxy of starfish – eine Galaxie von Seesternen
- A shiver of sharks – ein Zittern von Haien
- A destruction of wildcats – eine Zerstörung von Wildkatzen
- A bask of crocodiles – eine Gruppe Krokodile (there is no translation for the noun ‘bask’)
- A pride of lions – ein Stolz von Löwen
- A bloat of hippopotamus – ein Aufblähen von Flusspferden
- A nest of vipers – ein Nest von Vipern
- A confusion of wildebeests – eine Verwirrung von Gnus
- A shrewdness of apes – eine Schlauheit von Affen
- A dazzle of zebra – eine Verblendung von Zebras
- A labour of moles – eine Arbeit von Maulwürfen
- A gaggle of geese – ein geschnatter von Gänsen
- A parliament of owls – ein Parlament von Eulen
- A murmuration of starlings – ein Murmeln von Staren
- A charm of goldfinches – ein Anmut von Stieglitzen
- A pandemonium of parrots – ein Pandämonium von Papageien
- An ostentation of peacocks – eine Prahlerei von Pfauen
- An exaltation of larks – eine Begeisterung von Lerchen
- A flamboyance of flamingos – eine Extravaganz von Flamingos
- A murder of crows – ein Mord von Krähen
- A deceit of lapwings – eine Täuschung von Kiebitzen
Sadly, the real terms for German animal collective nouns (Sammelbegriffe für Tiere) aren’t as funny as the literal translations. Here are the real term:
- Eine Herde – a herd, a group of hooved animals
- ein Rudel – a pack, as in a pack of wolves
- ein Schwarm – a swarm, a group of fish, insects or birds, those that are moving together
There are a few more which are completely unknown to me. Those are mainly terms used by hunters: Rotte (another word for pack), Kette (usually a chain, but if in relation to partidges it’s a covey), Schoof (can’t find it in any dictionary), Sippe (tribe, clan) …
So, my ‘advice’ is, do what most people do and talk about ‘a group of …’ – ‘eine Gruppe von …’ ????
But if you want to remember those words, what can you do?
You can bookmark this post or make a vocabulary list with them. You can do that with any paper or electronic notebook. Or you could buy my notebook which I designed specially for German vocab learners. It has space for vocabulary lists and sentences. You can even choose one of two colours ????
