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As a Swiss guy, I always thought the proper German word is Fahrstuhl (and always remembering the song Liebe im Fahrstuhl from Die Prinzen when using the word).

However, recently I have read a blog post from a (native I guess) German speaker (from the Berlin area) actually using the word Aufzug, which always had a “Swiss” connotation to me.

Is there a difference in usage of Fahrstuhl and Aufzug in Germany, probably by region?

Wrzlprmft
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hitchhiker
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  • What do you mean by "Swiss", mainly in contrast to Swiss? Ich sage übrigens auch gerne Lift. :) – user unknown Mar 29 '19 at 11:56
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    Was sagen denn die Wörterbücher? Wir erwarten, dass Besucher erst versuchen die Frage selbst zu beantworten. Wenn Wörterbücher nicht weiterhelfen, wäre es hilfreich zu sagen, wieso nicht. – user unknown Mar 29 '19 at 12:04
  • As a fellow swiss guy with close ties to Germany, I'd like to point out something strange I figured out: The further north in Germany you go, the more likely people will understand swiss-german and also use some words that for me have a very swiss connotation. It's strange because you'd expect that people living in in the border region (southern Germany) would better understand the language being spoken in the neighbouring country. Great example for this is @userunknown, I assume they're from Berlin due to their profile, using "Lift" something I've personally only heard swiss people say – MindSwipe Mar 29 '19 at 13:42
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    @MindSwipe Die Verwendung von Lift, Aufzug, Fahrstuhl hat, denke ich, nichts mit der Region in Deutschland zu tun. Alle drei Wörter werden verwendet. Unterschiede gibt es vielleicht beim Textform-Kontext. In offiziellen Papieren wird man eher von Aufzug sprechen, in legerer mündlicher Sprache eher von Lift. - Ich bin übrigens im Einzugsbereich des Schweizer Rundfunks aufgewachsen, lebe jetzt aber im Einzugsbereich des niederländischen. – Christian Geiselmann Mar 29 '19 at 16:51
  • Ja, wir haben in Deutschland nationale Medien wie Fernsehen, Zeitungen, Bücher - daher ist der Großteil der Sprache überall gleich - auch mit Österreich und der deutschsprachigen Schweiz weitgehend. Leute, die ausschließlich Mundart sprechen, sind hier kaum oder gar nicht. Außerdem bin ich nord-süd-mäßig in der Mitte Deutschlands aufgewachsen, im moselfränkischen, allerdings mit einer Mutter aus Ostpreußen, die aber strikt hochdeutsch mit uns sprach. Aber man liest auch viel, von Kafka über Bernhard, von Kraus über Dürrenmatt, von Brinkmann bis Dodua Otoo. – user unknown Mar 29 '19 at 20:12
  • @MindSwipe Depending on the exact region in northern germany, there might be close religious and historical ties between Switzerland and those regions from the Reformation, e.g. in Ostfriesland/Emden or elsewhere close to the dutch border. So that way language usage might have travelled too. – schlenk Mar 30 '19 at 17:49
  • @userunknown hier in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz ist die Sprache weit von gleich überall. Schon zwischen Bern und Thun (c.a 30 Minuten Zugfahrt entfernt von einander) gibt es unterschiede, Bern - Zürich ist noch ein grösserer Unterschied, und niemand versteht "Wallisisch" (ein Dialekt der im Wallis gesprochen wird). Wir verstehen einander zum grössten Teil aber ich würde nicht gleich nennen. Wir alle können aber auch schweizerisches Hochdeutsch, das im Fernsehen und Radio gesprochen werden muss, somit ist dein Bild von der Deutschschweiz villeicht ein wenig verfälscht – MindSwipe Mar 31 '19 at 18:17
  • There is NO swiss connotation to it. (afaik) It's just that (here Peter A. is partially correct) Fahrstuhl rather refers to the cabin itself, and Aufzug to the whole system, which is universal across germany – Hobbamok Apr 01 '19 at 09:17

9 Answers9

17

In addition to the other answers:

At least I assume transportation of persons when I hear the word "Fahrstuhl".

The word "Aufzug" is definitely also used with things ("Lastenaufzug", "Schrägaufzug").

Martin Rosenau
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    Not to mention Aufzug is also used as a synonym of (weird) outfit. – πάντα ῥεῖ Mar 29 '19 at 17:34
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    The word "Personenaufzug" is a synonymous to Fahrstuhl. – harper Mar 30 '19 at 07:38
  • People around me say usually "Nimm doch den Aufzug" when they want to suggest visitors of our building to use the lift. And they do not mean the cargo one. It is a normal word. – Christian Geiselmann Mar 30 '19 at 20:33
  • To connect this to the other answers: "Fahrstuhl" is an informal term for an elevator for persons, "Aufzug" being the technical term, it can of course be applied to any type of elevator. And a "Schrägaufzug" (Inclined elevator) can definitely also be an elevator for persons. – rob74 Mar 30 '19 at 22:00
15

Aufzug is the more formal, technical term. For example, this wikipedia page contains references to technical and regulatory documents concerning elevators. None of them uses Fahrstuhl; in fact, the word does not appear on the page.

The two are semantically largely equivalent. This page claims that Fahrstuhl is more commonly used when referring to the actual cabin, but the example den Fahrstuhl kommen lassen would work with Aufzug as well.

Since it is not a technical term like Aufzug, Fahrstuhl is more colloquial.

Edit: Some commenters disagree in particular with the statement that Fahrstuhl is more colloquial. I don't have any reference for that. It was based on the use of Aufzug in formal contexts and my personal experience. It appears that others' experiences differ. Whether there is a correlation with region, social group or age is not clear yet (I'm a 54 years old college educated guy from the Hannover region). I'd welcome more comments with more information.

Peter - Reinstate Monica
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  • I think this is the correct answer. – leftaroundabout Mar 29 '19 at 17:55
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    I think it's very technical, if considering that Stuhl is chiefly "chair", but also archaic for "frame, suport", e.g. Dachstuhl, while Webstuhl may be a crossing of both. And it's better than the Aufzug without a corresponding Abzug. – vectory Mar 30 '19 at 11:57
  • No, this is not correct imo. Fahrstuhl is the slightly more formal term but the difference is not of any imprtance. Lift, Fahrstuhl and Aufzug all are the same and completely interchangable. Aufzug is slightly more general e.g. Lastenaufzug, though.. – TaW Mar 31 '19 at 11:18
  • @TaW I backed my opinion with references. Can you? – Peter - Reinstate Monica Mar 31 '19 at 11:49
  • I don't need any references to know that 'Fahrstuhl' is not more but less coloquial than 'Aufzug'. Not sure about each region in Germany but in the south this is most certainly true. OP was not about technical documents but about regional usage. Here nobody at all would speak about using a 'Fahrstuhl'. – TaW Mar 31 '19 at 12:29
  • Wait WHAT? Sorry, but nobody uses Fahrstuhl where I live. Also your conclusion "but the wikipedia page doesn't mention Fahrstuhl" is wrong, because of the second point you make: Fahrstuhl usually refers to the cabin itself. HOWEVER the regulation in your point 1 applies to the whole system, and therefore they use Aufzug. This is NOT a case of "there are two words, one is formal, one is not", this is more of a case of "Fahrstuhl" is outdated and rarely used. Aufzug is formal and colloquially used. – Hobbamok Apr 01 '19 at 09:14
  • @Hobbamok If your personal experience (I must assume, since you do not provide any references) differs so much from mine I must conclude that there are significant regional and perhaps generational differences. (I'm 54 and grew up in Hannover, but my parents are from Iserlohn and Hamburg, respectively). – Peter - Reinstate Monica Apr 01 '19 at 09:25
  • @Hobbamok So it would be interesting to know where you live in order to map the differences ;-). – Peter - Reinstate Monica Apr 01 '19 at 09:31
  • Bavaria, Munich. And yes, I was a little bit too self-centered, but I think my argument on your first point still stands – Hobbamok Apr 01 '19 at 09:55
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    I (from Berlin) second Peter's opinion - I also consider "Fahrstuhl" slightly more colloquial than "Aufzug". It seems indeed to be a regional issue. – Volker Landgraf Apr 04 '19 at 07:12
  • sorry, but in all my visits to germany, in all building have only seen 'aufzug' outside and inside warnings, after 3 year visiting germany, i've found the word Fahrstul in a german course online! – stackdave Nov 01 '19 at 10:12
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No and yes:

Regarding the Fahrstuhl. an Aufzug is the same, no difference here.

Regarding Aufzug in general, there is a difference – because Aufzug can have different meanings depending on context. Most common other meaning is people's dress, see DWDS for more meanings.

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Shegit Brahm
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I would argue that a Fahrstuhl does not necessarily have to transport its contents vertically. It can also move horizontally or at the very least diagonally. Aufzug seems to clearly indicate a vertical movement.

Additionally a Fahrstuhl does not hint the means of movements (it could be on ropes, gears, tracks, horse-driven, etc.). An Aufzug (at least when judging by the words) indicates that it is pulled upwards.

Wrzlprmft
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BestGuess
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    In einem "Schrägaufzug" werden Lasten diagonal transportiert. – Martin Rosenau Mar 29 '19 at 10:05
  • @MartinRosenau: Interesting. I never heard that term. But it kind of adds to my argument that the default meaning of "Aufzug" is a vertical movement, while a diagonal movements needs further attributation. – BestGuess Mar 29 '19 at 10:08
  • I would argue that an Aufzug implies that things got pulled (-zug), somehow upwards (Auf-). And that a Schrägaufzug still is an Aufzug and not called Schrägfahrstuhl which would be my consequence of your "clearly indicate a vertical movement". And the kind of movement source as Fahrstuhl-Indikator sounds for me like "vertical movement are the apples to pears of the movement source " – Shegit Brahm Mar 29 '19 at 11:25
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    Obwohl der Aufzug ja unbestreitbar auch abwärts fährt... – user unknown Mar 29 '19 at 12:02
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    Do you have any evidence that this generic meaning of "Fahrstuhl" is actually used anywhere? I only know the word as a synonym of "Aufzug". Also, I am not sure a purely word-based analysis about movement directions can lead anywhere, given that a "Fahrstuhl" also rarely ever contains a chair. – O. R. Mapper Mar 29 '19 at 12:04
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    @ShegitBrahm Usually, the user of an "Aufzug" does neither know nor care whether the cabin is pulled (using a rope) or pushed (hydraulically). – Uwe Mar 29 '19 at 12:21
  • @O.R.Mapper: DWDS-Link on Grimms Wörterbuch shows the origin coming with a "chairish" thing: https://www.dwds.de/wb/dwb/fahrstuhl – Shegit Brahm Mar 29 '19 at 12:48
  • @Uwe: I agree the user's pov which might be the viewpoint for the question(which I took into account in my answer). imo it still needs the engineering and linguistic differences to find a full answer when it comes to "why do you say so" . And my comment was about my doubt that BestGuess' word-based analysis is satisfying for generics here. Regardless I have different opinion. – Shegit Brahm Mar 29 '19 at 12:50
  • @Uwe: the question was whether there is a difference. I argue that there is a (slight) difference. I do not care if the user cares, i care what the question is. – BestGuess Mar 29 '19 at 12:59
  • @O.R.Mapper: Stuhl has different means apart from "chair" (see "Dachstuhl"). But even still, there are definitely diagonal/horizontal transports, which you can sit on (see "Treppenlift"). Now you can ask yourself. Is a "Treppenlift" rather a "Fahrstuhl" or a "Aufzug"? QED – BestGuess Mar 29 '19 at 13:02
  • @BestGuess: Intuitively, I'd say a "Treppenlift" is neither a "Fahrstuhl" nor an "Aufzug", both of which I strongly associate with more or less enclosed cabins that travel vertically in a shaft or along a rail. The technical definition in the industry that deals with these products may be different, though. – O. R. Mapper Mar 29 '19 at 13:07
  • I would say an Aufzug also doesn't say much about means of movement. It could be on (vertical) tracks, like a Zahnstangenaufzug. In that case it would still be "pulled" up, by the motor in the cabin. – kapex Mar 29 '19 at 13:09
  • @kapex: That is exactly what i wrote ("indicates that it is pulled upwards"). So what is your point? Are you missing information or in agreement? – BestGuess Mar 29 '19 at 13:15
  • Maybe I misunderstood. You wrote 'a "Fahrstuhl" does not hint the means of movements' which I thought implicated that "Aufzug" has to be pulled by specific means (e.g by ropes). – kapex Mar 29 '19 at 13:44
  • @userunknown citation needed :) – Philipp Mar 29 '19 at 19:53
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    Bloody natural languages! It's not pulled but it's not a chair either. It goes down as well but then it also doesn't move on wheels. It's all nonsense ;-). – Peter - Reinstate Monica Mar 29 '19 at 23:17
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    @Peter-A.-Schneider, fahren does not strictly imply wheels. Vgl. Himmelfahrt. Also, auffahren is word with different meaning. – vectory Mar 30 '19 at 16:11
  • @ShegitBrahm you are over-emphasizing your source. It compares Fahrsessel, but certainly doesn't say that's the source. It implies that sitting seat is the meaning, but does not show it. Cp. Fahrgestell, Gestühl, Dachstuhl, etc. There's a slim chance that Stuhl was understood as "frame" and that engineers are, well, no linguists. – vectory Mar 30 '19 at 16:22
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    @vectory But Himmelfahrt is inconceivable without wheels! How do you transport the beer?? – Peter - Reinstate Monica Mar 30 '19 at 20:30
  • @Uwe Aufzug independently of being pulled or pushed: Indeed. Otherwise we would differentiate between Aufzug and Aufschub. Which we don't. Although the words *Aufschub* and *Abzug* exist. – Christian Geiselmann Mar 30 '19 at 20:35
  • @PeterA.Schneider You can use a sleigh. How do you think people celebrated Himmelfahrt before the invention of the wheel? – Christian Geiselmann Mar 30 '19 at 20:38
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    @ChristianGeiselmann They didn't. The wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC. – Uwe Mar 30 '19 at 21:08
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    Schlittenfahrt, Schiffsfahrt, Ballonfahrt, Abfahrtslauf in Kitzbühl, ... - fahrt zur Hölle! Nicht zu vergessen "auf große Fahrt gehen", kann wohl auch Wanderschaft bedeuten. – user unknown Apr 01 '19 at 12:30
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An aspect not covered by other answers: There is an overlap of the term Fahrstuhl with a wheel chair, see especially the compound word Krankenfahrstuhl. This supports BestGuess' claim, that the movement does not need to be vertical for a Fahrstuhl.

I have to admit, that this is mostly found in questions for getting the driving license, but rarely encountered in conversation.

guidot
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  • interesting point because here there is literally a chair that drives ("move sick") [people] - unless the more common Fahrstuhl where the chair went missing (I guess together with the cabin dricer in user36774's answer) – Shegit Brahm Apr 01 '19 at 12:14
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In earlier times Fahrstuehle used to be Fahr-Stuehle, having places to sit. So when used today it's merely "vornehme" Sprache.

(Note: it's not given for trade, exchange and stacks to bind one but to be able to escape)

Samana Johann
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There may be a slight semantic difference that is getting lost. A paternoster would be termed "Aufzug" but not "Fahrstuhl". It would be my guess that "Fahrstuhl" originally referred to directable elevator cabins (which were originally "driven" by an operator) whereas "Aufzug" was more generally employed for towing people or stuff vertically. It's not more than a guess, and with paternosters going the way of the dodo and operated person elevators having done so long ago, any prospective semantic difference will share their fate. I doubt that what feels correct to me old geezer would still match general language usage.

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Both words have the same meaning but Aufzug is the technical correct term and Fahrstuhl is a colloquial term.

Philipp
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anion
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    Do you have any backup for this theory? – Iris Mar 29 '19 at 14:11
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    Kann es sein, dass Sie den Begriff Slang mit dem Begriff Umgangssprache verwechseln? – Björn Friedrich Mar 29 '19 at 20:09
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    @BjörnFriedrich möglich. Englisch ist nicht meine beste Sprache ;-) – anion Mar 30 '19 at 08:21
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    @Iris I have no written reference/source for this statement (otherwise i had posted it). I am working in a big german company which is doing safety inspection of lifts. I talked to some of our engineers in the last years and all of them emphasize again and again that if you say "Fahrstuhl" then it is not correct and therefore you should say "Aufzug". – anion Mar 30 '19 at 08:27
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They have the same meaning but Aufzug is more common to use in Germany

Seb
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  • Is that just your impression? Which parts of Germany are we talking about? – Philipp Mar 30 '19 at 09:23
  • @Philipp I live in Bavaria (southern Germany) and there Aufzug is the more common word. Only older people say Fahrstuhl here. – Seb Mar 30 '19 at 09:41
  • Interesting. In Hamburg, I don't feel there's such a clear distribution. – Philipp Mar 30 '19 at 09:55
  • @Philipp ok, it's interesting indeed, so it depends one which part in Germany, but well it doesn't matter which word oyu use – Seb Mar 30 '19 at 10:19