Transatlantiker

German

Etymology

trans- +‎ Atlantik +‎ -er. The geographic sense of the term had become rare by the second half of the 20th century and was completely displaced by the political sense, which gets its meaning from the use of transatlantisch to describe US-Europe relations. Compare English transatlanticism.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tʁansʔatˈlantɪkɐ/

Noun

Transatlantiker m (strong, genitive Transatlantikers, plural Transatlantiker, feminine Transatlantikerin)

  1. (politics) transatlanticist (person who prioritizes, and tries to preserve, NATO and the alliance between European countries and the US) [from 1990s]
    • 2007 February 10, Sebastian Fischer, “Putin warnt USA: Ein Hauch von Kaltem Krieg in München”, in Der Spiegel[1], archived from the original on 17 August 2014:
      Es ist eine sehr polarisierende Eröffnung dieser 43. Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz. Das hat keine Tradition, galt die Tagung seit ihrer Gründung doch eher als Treff der Transatlantiker.
      It's a polarizing opening to the 43rd Munich Security Conference. That is not in line with tradition, ever since its founding the conference had been considered a meetup of transatlanticists.
  2. (obsolete) a person from North America
    • 1874, Robert Waldmüller [Charles Edouard Duboc], Schloss Roncanet: Roman aus der Gegenwart, Carl Rümpler, page 179:
      "Sie haben gut den Moralisten spielen, mein sehr werther Transatlantiker. Kennten Sie unsere hemischen Verhältnisse wie ich sie kenne [] so würden Sie meinen angeblichen Pessimismus weder mit der Schleife der Frivolität, noch mit dem der Schadenfreude decoriren."
      "It is easy for you to play the moralist towards me, my most dear Transatlantian. If you knew of our situation at home, the way I know it [] then you would not decorate my supposed pessimism with garlands of frivolity, nor with schadenfreude."

Declension

Further reading