Hardly anyone knows it: The most beautiful word in the world comes from New Zealand | News

Berlin – It’s hard to say, even more rarely heard, and yet it’s said to be the most beautiful word in the world. An international jury chose “Kaitiakitanga” as the winner. Behind the 13 letters there is a term for which there is not even a direct translation in German. The word is pronounced roughly “Kai-ti-a-ki-tan-ga”. It comes from the language of the Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. It describes man’s responsibility to protect nature and preserve it for future generations. This means much more than classic environmental protection: According to the Māori worldview, people are not the owners of nature, but rather part of it – and therefore its guardian.

The award has now been presented for the first time by the Language learning platform Babbel forgive. To make the choice, the company evaluated discussions in social networks and language forums. An international jury made up of linguists, authors and cultural experts chose the term as the winner. Overall stood 223 words from more than 75 languages to select. It wasn’t just sound and pronunciation that played a role in the evaluation. The meaning of the term, its cultural uniqueness and the question of whether it conveys an idea that moves people around the world were also crucial.

These words also made it onto the shortlist

Other finalists included the Portuguese “Saudade” (deep longing), the Japanese “Ikigai” (meaning of life), the Welsh “Hiraeth” (longing for a lost home), the Zulu word “Ubuntu”, which stands for humanity and community, and “Luftmensch” from Yiddish. The term describes a dreamy, idealistic person who has little interest in material things and lives more from ideas than from everyday life. A German word did it however, not on the shortlist. Yiddish, which is represented there, is linguistically considered an independent language despite its close relationship to German.

The Germans’ favorite words

As early as 2004, the German Language Council called for the “most beautiful German word” to be chosen. More than 22,000 people from 111 countries took part. In the end, “Habseligkeiten” prevailed – ahead of “Geborgenheit”, “lieben”, “Augenblick” and probably the most resonant tongue twister of the top five: “Rhubarb jam”.