Altweibersommer

German de: Etymology At least in the meaning "Indian summer", seemingly from de alt old Weib Weiber women's Sommer summer, literally "old women's summer". Compare hu vénasszonyok nyara, pl babie lato, archaic cs babské léto, ru ба́бье ле́то, be ба́біна ле́та, uk ба́бине лі́то, and en old wives' summer; compare also de Mädchensommer girls' summer; the Polish and Czech terms for the season are also used for the webs. DWDS suggests the use for cobwebs could be comparing them to old women's white hair, like the name of the wood anemone, de Altweibergras, and a regional name for cottongrass, de alte Mägde. Alternatively, the middle element de Weib may be a regional variant of de Spinnwebe Spinnwebe spider's web (cognate to en web), or related to de weben (meaning, and related to, en weave).DW Word of the Week: Altweibersommer Compare en gossamer, traditionally taken to be from "goose summer" and to have originally referred to the season (like sco goesomer St Martin's summer) and then to webs;The Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories (1991), page 202, "gossamer" DWDS considers the connection of that word with summer and this word with de Sommer summer uncertain, but besides other summery words for the webs like de Sommerfäden summer threads (cognate to nl zomerdraden summer-threads), de fliegender Sommer strands of web, and de Mariensommer, there are words like de Herbstfäden autumn threads.Handwörterbücher zur Deutschen Volkskunde, volume I (Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1927) Pronunciation de /altˈvaɪ̯bɐˌzɔmɐ/ de De-Altweibersommer.ogg <<Germany>> (<<Berlin>>) de Alt wei ber som mer Noun m loose gossamer or cobwebs found in the air or on the ground Indian summer (a stretch of warm days in autumn) Declension m Synonyms de Nachsommer, de Mädchensommer Related terms de Weiberfastnacht de Sommerferien, de Spätsommer References Further reading