kitsch 的词源

这个词最早出现在1926年，源自德语 kitsch，字面意思是“花哨的，垃圾”，来自方言 kitschen，意为“涂抹”。在英语中，它早期就作为德语词汇使用。

What we English people call ugliness in German art is simply the furious reaction against what Germans call süsses Kitsch, the art of the picture postcard, and of what corresponds to the royalty ballad. It has for years been their constant reproach against us that England is the great country of Kitsch. Many years ago a German who loved England only too well said to me, 'I like your English word plain; it is a word for which we have no equivalent in German, because all German women are plain.' He might well have balanced it by saying that English has no equivalent for the word Kitsch. [Edward J. Dent, "The Music of Arnold Schönberg," "The Living Age," July 9, 1921]

我们英国人所称的德国艺术中的丑陋，实际上只是对德国人所称的 süsses Kitsch 的强烈反应——那种明信片艺术，以及与皇家叙事诗相对应的艺术。多年来，他们一直指责我们，认为英格兰是 Kitsch 的大国。许多年前，一个过于热爱英格兰的德国人对我说：“我喜欢你们英语中的 plain 这个词；在德语中我们没有相应的词，因为 all 德国女人都是 plain。”他完全可以补充说，英语中也没有与 Kitsch 相对应的词。[爱德华·J·登特，《阿诺德·勋伯格的音乐》，《生活时代》，1921年7月9日]