By:
Walter Schönau
Professor Emeritus, German Literary History
University of Groningen
Abstract:
Sigmund Freud’s influence on language extends far beyond psychoanalysis, shaping both everyday speech and intellectual discourse. By favoring accessible vocabulary over technical medical language, he ensured that key psychoanalytic concepts—such as the unconscious, projection, and the Oedipus complex—gained widespread familiarity among the general public. Even his critics, often unconsciously, ‘speak Freud’, thereby reinforcing his enduring intellectual legacy. Yet, James Strachey’s English translation of Freud’s work introduced Greek and Latin neologisms that, while lending Freud’s original terms a more scientific veneer, also made them more abstract and detached, contributing to the emergence of a rigid psychoanalytic jargon—what has become known as ‘psychoanalese’. This linguistic shift not only complicated the reception of psychoanalysis but also encouraged misunderstandings about its scope. Nevertheless, Freud’s sophisticated oeuvre, in which scientific rigor is blended with literary expression, continues to resonate. He remains a profound influence, not only as the father of psychoanalysis but also—perhaps even more so—as a masterful writer whose ideas shape language and thought.
Keywords: Sigmund Freud, James Strachey, Freud’s writing style, influence of psycho¬analysis on language and public discourse
To cite as: Schönau, W., 2025, “Freud as Linguistic Innovator and Founder of Discourse,” PsyArt 29.2, pp. 25-43.