German Word of The Day

In this little series we will be introducing interesting, funny, subjectively beautiful or perplexing German words (some of which will be in Berlinerisch, a metrolect still very much used by born and bred Berliners, and happily tested by daring new Berliners like yours truly).

Today’s German word of the day? Eigengrau - intrinsic grey or dark light or the actual colour of the sky at night (because the sky, however dark and looming, is never black).

Something that the 1910 painting by German artist, Ernst Hugo Lorenz-Murowana, “Friedrichsbrücke in Berlin”, with the Berliner Dom to the right of the bridge and the vanished Berliner Börse (Berlin Stock-Exchange) as well as the "Börsen-Hotel" to its left.

And if you were wondering why so many German artists have a double-barrelled name with the second surname being actually a place name (like Ernst Lorenz-Murowana or Kurt Haase-Jastrow): the latter names the artist’s place of birth and helps distinguish them from other German artists who happened to have an identical name.