B2 · 40 Wörter

Pottery

Wet clay, the wheel, two firings — and the words for what goes wrong in between.

Pottery is taught in evening classes all over the German-speaking countries, and its vocabulary is old enough to have kept some surprises. Der Ton is clay and also a sound and a tone of voice, all one word. A pot is fired twice, and the two firings have their own names — der Schrühbrand first, bare, and der Glasurbrand after the glaze. And the stage at which a pot can be handled but not yet reshaped is lederhart, leather-hard, which is the single most useful word in the whole craft.

Die Wörter

Verb (4)

töpfernto make potteryVerbB2

Sie töpfert seit dem Winter jeden Dienstag.She has been doing pottery every Tuesday since the winter.

Regular. Das Töpfern is the activity.

zentrierento centreVerbC1

Wer nicht zentrieren kann, dreht nichts Rundes.Anyone who cannot centre will not throw anything round.

The first thing learned and the hardest.

schwindento shrinkVerbC1

Beim Trocknen schwindet der Ton um einige Prozent.Clay shrinks by a few per cent as it dries.

Irregular: schwand, geschwunden. Also to dwindle.

glasierento glazeVerbC1

Glasiert wird getaucht, gegossen oder gespritzt.Glazing is done by dipping, pouring or spraying.

Inseparable.

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