Does anyone know the translation of the german word Todesfrequenz and how it would be used in general conversation?
Death rate or death count.
As in the death rate of a disease, or the body count at the end of a military conflict?
Plugging Todesfrequenz into Google gives only 84 hits, all of which are referring to a book of that title, by F. Paul Wilson. Thus, it would appear that the answer to the question of how the word would be used in general conversation is “It wouldn’t” :). The book seems to be a medical thriller of some sort.
It’s not a mere count, but a frequency. Like 1000 deaths per year from [insert cause here].
Actually, it was F. Paul Wilson, on his web site that prompted the question. That is the german title of a book published in America under the title of “Hosts.” and is not really a medical thriller. Anyway, he asked what the german title meant, as he had no input into it. Now I have no idea how that title is related to the plot of the book to tell you the truth.
Hmmph. I thought Todesfrequenz was the rate of vibration required to liquefy one’s organs. Shows how much I know–or at least what sort of imagination I have.
Well, it is a German word with the meaning already mentioned. I don’t think one would actually use it, though. I’d use Sterberate if I meant death frequency.
Actually, when I read the thread title I had the same association as Lodrain. Scary, but true. Is there such a thing?
Babelfish says it means “death frequency.” (Just FYI.)
It’s certainly not a mainstream usage for death rate.
Judging from the usage of compound nouns using -frequenz, these nouns normally denote the frequency at which a particular event repeats, rather than the rate at which different events (like different people’s deaths) occur.
So my Sprachgefühl tends to understand the term as “[physical] frequency leading to death”.
I might very well be wrong - German publishers tend to mess up the titles of translations into German IMO.