Understanding/Comprehension

Understanding/Comprehension (Forstaaelse-noun; Forstand-noun; forstaaeverb) The word Forstaaelse is derived from the Old Danish forstande, which is borrowed from the Middle Low German vorstan, from the Old Saxon farstandan. It is cognate with the English word “understanding,” which was originally the act of standing under something in order to observe it.1 By extension, it is the act, relation or condition of comprehending the meaning of a thing, like a book or natural phenomenon. It can also have the connotation of sympathizing with a person, or harmonizing, as between different political entities. To have an understanding with someone may be to be in complicity or cahoots,2 or, more positively, to be on the same wavelength.