主题：再谈国歌~ -- 煮酒正熟

In 1841, when the text was written, the German Confederation was no unified state in the modern sense. It also included some territories inhabited also by non-German speakers, but excluded large parts inhabited by German speakers, like Eastern Prussia. Hoffmann, who in his research had collected German writings and tales, based his definition of Germany on linguistic criteria: he described the approximate area where a significant percentage of German speakers lived at the time, as encountered in his studies. Nineteenth century nationalists generally relied on linguistic criteria to determine the borders of the nation-states they desired. Thus, the borders mentioned in the first stanza reflected the breadth of territory across which German speakers were spread at the time.

Von der Maas bis an die Memel,

Von der Etsch bis an den Belt.

From the Meuse River to the Memel River,

From the Adige River to the Little Belt.