Wednesday, August 10, 2011

German terms in Railway

What is Eisenbahnknot​enpunktweiche? Eisenbahnknot​enpunktweiche is railway junction switch. You can decompose this whole german (compound) noun into several parts.

Eisen = Iron 
Bahn = Road
Knoten = Node
Punkt = Point
Weiche = Switch
Eisenbahn means railway. But wait! Eisen is iron and Bahn is road. It is same to the combination of Chinese character 鐵路 (tie lu). Funny!

What is Triebwagenzug?

Trieb = engine
wagen = wagon = car
zug = train

Triebwagenzug means railcar.

Triebfahrzeug means trains and Localmotiven mean localmotives.

Auskunft means information. Preise means rating and Buchung means booking.

Einfache Fahrt means single journey where Fahren means go.

Hin- und Rückfahrt means return journey. Hinfahrt means outward. Rück means back.

Abfahrt means departure. Ab-fahrt literally means from-go.

Ankunft means arrival. An-kunft literally means to-future.


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