Man of life
The term life person is used to characterize someone who is considered to be the most important person in one's life.
etymology
When Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in terms of liver man ( "man of the enjoyment of life") is used, the expression was in the mentioned meaning by writer Thomas Bernhard coined the name on his grandfather John Freumbichler referring to his confidante and Hedwig Stavianicek:
“But in truth, even without Paul, I would not have been alone at the Baumgartnerhöhe during these days, weeks and months, because I had my life man , the one who was decisive for me in Vienna after the death of my grandfather, my life friend, who not only was me a lot, but frankly, since the moment she appeared at my side over thirty years ago, I have more or less owed everything. […] The initiated know what is hidden behind this word Lebensmensch , from and from which I have drawn my strength and my survival for over thirty years, from nothing else, that is the truth. "
Word of the year 2008
At the end of 2008, the expression was voted the Austrian word of the year 2008. This was a consequence of the fact that it was so widespread in October 2008, when the politician Stefan Petzner tearfully referred to Jörg Haider, who had recently died in an accident, as his “man of life” in the media.
The jury attested that the ambivalence of meaning and the high emotional value made Lebensmensch the word of the year. The word was also classified as a non-word by many voters due to its contradicting usage, but voted as word of the year by the majority.
The Duden took the term in its 25th edition (2009) Lebensmensch as a particularly Austrian expression.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c press release - word of the year 2008 - election results and reasons . ( Memento of the original from July 27, 2018 in the Internet Archive ; PDF) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
- ↑ man of life. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 12 : L, M - (VI). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1885, Sp. 449 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
- ↑ Wenzel Müller: The aunt of the exaggerator . In: The daily newspaper. April 4, 2001 (accessed January 20, 2009).
- ^ Martin Huber, Manfred Mittermayer, Peter Karlhuber: Thomas Bernhard and his people of life. The estate ( literaturhaus.at , accessed on May 8, 2013).
- ↑ Thomas Bernhard: Wittgenstein's nephew - A friendship. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 30 f. (Emphasis added by the author)
- ↑ Duden - The German spelling. 25., completely reworked. and exp. Edition. Bibliogr. Inst. And Brockhaus, Mannheim 2009.
