Eigensinn

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German

Etymology

eigen +‎ Sinn.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈaɪ̯ɡn̩zɪn/
  • Audio:(file)

Noun

Eigensinn m (strong, genitive Eigensinnes or Eigensinns, no plural)

  1. stubbornness, obstinacy, self-willedness, the quality of refusing to change one's mind, narrow-mindedness
  2. idiosyncrasy
    • 1927, Adolf Halfeld, Amerika und der Amerikanismus. Kritische Betrachtungen eines Deutschen und Europäers, Jena: Eugen Diederichs, page 62:
      Das wahre Amerika liegt im Mississippibecken, wo das Meer, das alte Bindeglied der Völker, in Ost und West so weit enfernt ist, daß sich Eigensinn am ehesten entwickeln konnte. Hier im mittleren Westen hat der Amerikanismus seine Menschen am vollkommensten gestaltet – dörflerisch, in Arbeit gerecht, erfolgsüchtig und ungeistig. Hier konnte sich der Mechanismus dieser Zivilisation, die Unterwerfung des Menschen im Menschen, am reinsten auswirken, weil die Einflüsse von außen am leichtesten abzustauen waren.
      The real America lies in the Mississippi basin, where the sea, the old copula of the peoples, is so remote in East and West, that idiosyncrasy could develop most easily. Here in the Mid-West the Americanism has shaped man most thoroughly – hillbillyish, holier-than-thou in labor, craving for achievement and devoid of intellect. Here the mechanism of this civilization, the subjugation of the human in man, could effect in its purest form, for the influences from outside were to be stowed away the easiest.

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

  • Eigensinn” in Duden online
  • Eigensinn” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache