We rarely witness the birth of a new word. Yesterday, I had the honor to be the person to hear a new word, leaving the mouth of a human being for the first time. Now, I am sending out this word. I am its godfather, my student A. in Kreuzkölln is its creator. He was telling me that he is planing a Urlaub with his wife, eine kurze Reise nach Köln (nicht Neukölln) and then to the "Romantische Straße," a hiking and biking trail through a dozen or so old, pretty little towns in Bavaria.
"Buchst du ein Zimmer in einem Hotel in Köln?"
Antwort: Nein.
"Hast du eine Reiseroute?"
Antwort: Nein.
"Weißt du, was du sehen willst?"
Antwort: "Nein, wir fahren …" He searched for a word, and then it came out. "Wir fahren nach … Spontanien."
Please welcome "Spontanien" with a warm applause.
He wanted to say that all decisions he and his wife are going to make will be spontanious. The German word is "spontan." It is an adjective.
Das war eine spontane Entscheidung.
Ich besuche dich ganz spontan. (Which means, I will not announce my visit.)
My student followed the pattern of transforming foreign names into words that sound "German". We don’t say Milano, we say Mailand. We say Moskau and Russland, Schweden and Finnland and for many countries and regions we end their names with –ien, for example Kroatien, Spanien, Italien, Tunesien, Syrien, Sibirien etc.
So, a person who travels to a country or a region where he or she decides spontaniously what to see or where to stay travels to Spontanien.
A word with a similar connotation exists. It describes what people do in their vacation when they do not have enough money to travel. On sunny days they sit on their balcony, auf dem Balkon. They go to "Balkonien."
Ich hoffe, Ihr hattet so weit einen schönen Sommer.
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