Folg

The German root Folg carries a simple, physical idea inside it: to follow. This is the very same instinct that gives English its word follow, as both likely descend from an ancient word for tracking or accompanying. But where English often stops, German builds. Consider the word Erfolg. The er- prefix often signals the successful completion of an action, so to "follow through" to the end is to achieve success. German doesn't need to borrow a Latin word like success (from succedere, to "go under" or "come after"). It simply takes the building block for "follow," adds a prefix for "completion," and arrives at the same idea with its own tools. This is a kind of conceptual self-reliance. You see it again in a word like Schlussfolgerung, a conclusion. A Schluss is an end or a closing. What is a conclusion, after all, if not what "follows" from the "end" of an argument? German just says so, joining the pieces to make the logic plain. One follows the evidence to its close, and there, waiting, is the Schlussfolgerung.