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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I don't think it means "thing", but rather "Gerät" as in 2 c):

https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Zeug

It evolved from a word for "pulling"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I guess for "Flugzeug", 'device' works better but I don't think I have ever thought about it in that way. From my experience usage usually goes more like this: "Pack dein Zeug zusammen wir gehen weiter." which I think best translates to 'Stuff' or 'things'. Zeug is an interesting word though. It is also used for the harness of a draft animal ("sich ins Zeug legen"), it's bridle ("Zaumzeug"), bed linen ("Bettzeug"), work tools ("Werkzeug") , or as a word for nonsense ("red kein dummes Zeug"). I would say it started, as you said, as a word for device but became a slightly negative word for 'Stuff'.