GLOSSARY

THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Originally published in German, All Quiet on the Western Front was quickly translated into English. At times, however, the English is distinctly British. While the words are not difficult to understand, you may feel more at home if you scan the American equivalents:

British English American English

aeroplane airplane

civil life civilian life

garden fete garden party

in fine trim in fine shape

mess-tin mess kit

Mind! Watch out! Be careful!

motor lorries trucks

munition-column ammunition convoy

pub bar, tavern

queue line

wireless men radio operators

wiring fatigue wiring duty or detail

IN THE ARMY

DIXIE Oval-shaped British army cooking kettle (from the Hindi degshi, a pot or vessel). The navy equivalent is a fanny.

FROGS, FROGGIES The French, from an ancient heraldic device (symbol for a shield or coat of arms) consisting of three frogs.

JOHNNY As used in context in Chapter 7 it refers to a Russian. This is similar to an American's referring to Russians as Ivans. Ivan, Johann, and John are the same name in three different languages- Russian, German, and English.

SKAT A German card game played by three players using 32 cards. Bids are expressed in numbers. The winning bidder becomes the player and names the exact variant of the game to be played.

TOMMY, TOMMY ATKINS Similar to G.I. Joe for an American soldier, Tommy means a British private soldier. (A Jack Tar is a British sailor.) At one time all recruits were given manuals in which they were to enter name, date, etc. The model used the fictitious name Thomas Atkins.

GERMAN NAMES: PRONUNCIATION

Feel free to pronounce the names in this novel as they appear. You will have a problem being more precise, since English consonant and vowel sounds are not identical with those in German. For instance, the German sound for the ch spelling in the middle of a word is our k or h after a guttural sound we do not have in English. At the end of a word, ch is more like our sh. Also, the two dots over a vowel (called an umlaut) indicate a vowel sound we do not have in English. "Baumer," for example, would be pronounced BOW-mer, but "Baumer," (with an umlaut over the a) is pronounced BOY-mer. Therefore these are approximate pronunciations of some of the less obvious names.

Baumer BOY-mer

Behm BAYM

Boettcher BERT-cher

Detering DET-er-ing

Franz Kemmerich frahnz KIM-er-ish

Franz Wachter frahnz VEK-ter

Haie Westhus hi VEST-hews

Hamacher HAHM-ock-er

Himmelstoss HIM-mel-shtos

Katczinsky ku-CHIN-ski

Mittelstaedt MIT-el-shteht

Muller MEW-ler

Oellrich ERL-rish

Tjaden CHAW-den