pike
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to learn from scratch
An idiom that means to learn something from the ground up and comprehensively. The expression comes from the military, where recruits first learned how to handle the 'Pike' (pike, a weapon).
Er hat sein Handwerk von der Pike auf gelernt und ist heute ein Meister seines Fachs.
He learned his craft from scratch and is now a master in his field.
The word 'Pike' (pike) by itself is very rare today and is used almost only in historical contexts for the weapon. In modern German, you encounter it almost exclusively in the fixed idiom 'von der Pike auf' (from scratch).
Im Museum sahen wir alte Rüstungen und Piken aus dem Mittelalter.
In the museum, we saw old armor and pikes from the Middle Ages.
The idiom 'von der Pike auf lernen' (to learn from scratch) is a fixed unit and means to learn something from the ground up, completely, and from the very beginning. It is often combined with verbs such as 'lernen' (to learn), 'kennen' (to know), or 'dienen' (to serve).
Mein Chef hat das Geschäft von der Pike auf gelernt und kennt jeden Arbeitsschritt.
My boss learned the business from scratch and knows every step of the work.
The idiom comes from soldiers' language. The 'Pike' (pike) was a simple but important weapon whose handling every recruit had to learn first of all. So someone who served 'von der Pike auf' (from the very beginning) was there from the start.
Wer etwas von der Pike auf lernt, beginnt bei den absoluten Grundlagen.
Anyone who learns something from scratch starts with the absolute basics.
skewer / spear
'Spieß' and 'Pike' can both refer to historical pole weapons with a point. So they belong to a similar area and can be confused in historical texts. However, 'Pike' means a particularly long weapon that was used mainly by foot soldiers. 'Spieß' is somewhat more general and can mean various long thrusting weapons. Also important: today, 'Pike' often appears in the expression 'von der Pike auf lernen' (to learn from the ground up). In this expression, you cannot simply say 'Spieß' instead.
Die Fußsoldaten standen in einer Reihe und hielten ihre Piken nach vorn.
The foot soldiers stood in a row and held their pikes forward.
Auf dem Bild trägt ein Wachsoldat einen Spieß.
In the picture, a guard is carrying a spear.