search of the week: geltungbed�rfnis

here's an idea for a new feature, being a word that showed up this week on a wwftd site search.

geltungbed�rfnis - this gets a few google-hits, all German of course.

Is that 'Geltungsbed�rfnis'?

(...nach Anerkennung suchend;-)

well, no. I don't suppose (since it seems to be one of those compound things) that is more common in the plural.
:}

anyway, yours gets ~19000 hits to the ~40 on the other. furthermoreover, whatsit mean?

edit: here's from wwh:
First, it should be capitalized
It is a compound word, Geltung and Bed�fnis
For Geltung:
cachet die Geltung
importance die Geltung
prestige die Geltung
prestigiousness die Geltung
repute die Geltung
standing die Geltung
worth

desideratum das Bed�rfnis
necessity das Bed�rfnis
need das Bed�rfnis
requirement das Bed�rfnis
want das Bed�rfnis

Geltungsbeduerfnis

What it means: my guess -- a persons need for validation; Cassell's -- desire for admiration, desire to show off.

I would think it needs the genetive s, because the need is a property of the thing needed.

> well, no. I don't suppose that is more common in the plural.

The plural would be 'Geltungsbed�rfnisse'.

Gru� Peter!

> What it means: my guess -- a person's need for validation

Yep - I wrote pretty much the same in German (nach Anerkennung suchend) cause I thought it might be some guessing game I didn't know about and I didn't want to spoil it :-�

The term is (I assume) pretty common in psychology, e.g. with regard to a child's need for attention and self-actualisation, or whatever it's called. It is known to me, anyway.

> I would think it needs the genitive s, because the need is a property of the thing needed.

Makes sense though I've never thought about it. It just sounds right when said to me. I'd try to explain it like this though:

The genitive applies in cases like this: "lobenswert" ('commendable') means "des Lobens wert", or "wert, gelobt zu werden". "Geltungsbed�rfnis" could be parsed as "Bed�rfnis nach Geltung". Let it suffice to say that two substantives compounded here require this bridging 's' between them and that this is self-evident to German speakers. Maybe Herr Sieber could add something useful, I dunno.