"WELTANSCHAUUNG," "weltschmairts," "zeitgeist," Part 4

      "Weltanschauung" (VELT-an-shauhng), another lovely German word to get your mouth around, obviously begins with "welt" also.  The last part of the word, "schauung," shares the root with our word "show."  What we have here is a "world view," a "perception of the world," "a particular philosophy or view of life. . .of an individual or group." (OED)

       As I said, all three words seem to be evocative of large scale moods, transcendent, universal mantles cloaking wide swaths of humanity.  Is there something more inherently Germanic and European that makes these words cluster, and perhaps something more darkly "Old World"?

       In fact, if the Zeitgeist is replete with Weltschmerz, your Weltanschauung will likely be decidedly gloomy.