English

Weltpolitik

Weltpolitik comes from German Weltpolitik ‘world / global policy / politics’.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 2003, Stephen J. Lee, Europe: “'The main decision made by Kaiser Wilhelm II in…”

A compound of Welt ‘world’ + Politik ‘politics’

Proto-Germanic *weraldiz ‘lifetime, worldly existence’

Proto-West Germanic *weraldi ‘world’

Old High German wëralt ‘world’

Middle High German wëlt

German Welt ‘world’

Proto-Indo-European *tpelH- ‘fortification, city’

Proto-Hellenic *ptólis ‘city’

Ancient Greek πόλις ‘city’

Ancient Greek πολῑ́της ‘citizen’

Ancient Greek πολιτικός ‘civic, constitutional, public’

Latin polīticu

French politique ‘political’

German Politik ‘politics’

Every English word from German Weltpolitik

name The aggressive foreign policy of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany beginning in 1891.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.