Eggcorn Forum

A veld or veldt is an open rural space in South Africa, a kind of scrubland. According to Wikipedia, “the word veld (velt in Middle High German, and feld in Old High German) is preserved also in the Afrikaans and Dutch, literally meaning ‘field’.” This word is precariously close to the German word “welt”, which is pronounced velt but means “world” (as far as I know – I’ve ascended beyond my normal level of incompetence here).

This is germane here because of the philosopher-sociologists, for lack of a more fitting term, Mssrs. Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok, who developed a theory in semiology (again, I think that’s what it is) based on a new vision of each animal’s view of the world, its umwelt, pronounced “oomvelt”. Although diffferent organisms share the same environment, their experience of that milieu can be profoundly different, and one can’t understand their behaviour nor their conception of the universe without grokking their umwelt. Or without taking a stroll through their personal umveldt.

Class notes, What controls behavior
Roeder set out to determine the umveldt of a moth in terms of its perception of sounds. Von Uexkull pointed out that an animal’s psychological or behavioral environment, its umveldt, is determined by its sensory capabilities.

Right vs. Left
It appears that the song you reference did not penetrate my umveldt, sorry.

Natural history of slipper lobsters
vision may make a greater contribution to the umveldt of many species within this family that live in shallow waters.

Essential teachings of Sword combat
To paraphrase and summarize (and hopefully not misrepresent), the “understanding why” Wayne alludes to is the gokui, the “umveldt” Dave alludes to is the gokui, and the “koan” Ellis alludes to is the gokui.