Page talk:Novalis Schriften - Volume 2.djvu/139

Hauptmittel
"Hauptmittel" is the subject of complex associations in the fragment with "mittel"and "haupt" being used to create connections that don't show up in English translations. "Hauptmittel" means something like primary means today, though it can also mean primary remedy. Principle medium was chosen to mark the word's uniqueness from the use of "mittel" as means. The choice was determined by the definition of Hauptmittel in Grimm's Deutches Worter Book, which defines Hauptmittel" as medium principale, which was converted into the English principle medium. Medium also captures the idea of average, which Novalis seems to be hinting at with the discussion of the Philistine.