Ersatz means 'substituting for, and typically inferior in quality to', e.g. 'chicory is ersatz coffee'. It is a German word literally meaning substitute or replacement. Although it is used as an adjective in English, Ersatz can only function in German as a noun on its own, or as a part in compound nouns such as Ersatzteile (spare parts) or Ersatzspieler (substitute player). While the English term often implies that the substitution is of unsatisfactory or inferior quality ("not as good as the real thing"), it has both connotations in German, depending on the other noun; e.g. 'Ersatzteile' (spare parts) is just a technical expression without any valuation, whereas in more cases it means things of (a little) poorer quality - e.g. like 'Ersatzkaffee' and similar. Another German word for 'Ersatz-' is Surrogat (surrogate).
In English, "ersatz" arose as a pejorative during World War II because Ersatzbrot (replacement bread) was given frequently to the POWs, which was made of the lowest-grade flour, potato starch and frequently intermixed with other extenders such as sawdust. This practice was prevalent on the Eastern front and at the many labor and death camps organized by the Nazi regime.
In Britain, this was additionally popularized as an adjective, from the experiences of thousands of U.S., British, and other English-speaking combat personnel, primarily airmen, who were captured in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. These Allied Kriegsgefangene (prisoners of war) were served Ersatzkaffee (a coffee substitute) by their German captors. This substitute drink (a Getreidekaffee or "grain coffee") was not popular with the POWs, who longed for the real beverage.
As to why Ersatz is only a noun in German but also an adjective in English, the explanation is that in the German language compound nouns are single words formed by gluing the constituent nouns together, while in English the constituents tend to remain separate words. In the case of Ersatzkaffee, in which the latter two syllables were recognizably "coffee" to English-speaking ears, this compound noun was anglicized by a calque translation that retained the constituent Ersatz as a loanword, resulting in "ersatz coffee". The first part was reinterpreted as an adjective. In this way, "ersatz" came to be an English adjective connoting an inferior substitute.
Read more about Ersatz: Historical Context
Famous quotes containing the word ersatz:
“How, in one short century, has this ersatz sport so strangled the consciousness of the country in the grip of its flabby tentacles that the mention of women’s baseball gets no reaction other than blank amazement?”
—Darlene Mehrer, As quoted in Women in Baseball. Ch. 6, by Gai Ingham Berlage (1994)
“The indispensable ingredient of any game worth its salt is that the children themselves play it and, if not its sole authors, share in its creation. Watching TV’s ersatz battles is not the same thing at all. Children act out their emotions, they don’t talk them out and they don’t watch them out. Their imagination and their muscles need each other.”
—Leontine Young (20th century)