assault
noun · Körperverletzung
Körperverletzung for assault where harm is actually done, § 223 StGB, but the German offence needs a physical element the English assault does not, körperliche Misshandlung or damage to health, so the pure threat that is already an assault in England, causing someone to expect immediate force, is not Körperverletzung at all but at most Bedrohung, § 241 StGB, or Nötigung, § 240 StGB. German law also draws no assault-battery line, the harm, not the apprehension, is the offence.
Which translation, when
Why
English assault is about apprehension, making another expect immediate unlawful force, and battery is the force itself, while German Körperverletzung is about harm, and the mismatch runs through every charge. Under § 223 StGB Körperverletzung requires a körperliche Misshandlung, an ill-treatment impairing bodily wellbeing, or a Gesundheitsschädigung, so there must be a physical effect on the victim. The English assault that involves no contact at all, a raised fist, a threat that puts the victim in fear, is not Körperverletzung, because nothing was done to the body, it is at most Bedrohung, § 241 StGB, a threat with a serious crime, or Nötigung, § 240 StGB, if it forces the victim to act. German law also has no assault-and-battery pair, the harm is the offence and the apprehension is not, with the heavier gefährliche Körperverletzung of § 224 StGB and schwere Körperverletzung of § 226 StGB grading the harm upward. So translating assault as Körperverletzung asserts that a body was harmed, and where the English case was a threat or a near-miss, that assertion is simply wrong, pointing at an offence that was never committed.
Typical mistakes
- Körperverletzung requires actual harm, § 223 StGB, a körperliche Misshandlung or Gesundheitsschädigung, so an assault that was pure threat with no contact is not Körperverletzung but at most Bedrohung, § 241 StGB, or Nötigung, § 240 StGB.
- German law has no assault-battery distinction, the harm founds the offence and the apprehension does not, so importing the English pair misreads the German charge.
- The heavier forms are separate sections, gefährliche Körperverletzung § 224 StGB and schwere Körperverletzung § 226 StGB, so the bare Körperverletzung understates a serious injury.
What matters
Charges arising from a fight or a threat meet a harm-based offence: Körperverletzung under § 223 StGB needs a physical effect on the victim, and a threat without contact is Bedrohung, § 241 StGB, or Nötigung, § 240 StGB. The translation calling a raised-fist threat Körperverletzung has claimed a bodily harm that never happened, naming an offence the facts do not support.
What the machine misses
Assault comes back as Körperverletzung in machine output by default, and the German word imports a harm the English offence need not involve, § 223 StGB requires a körperliche Misshandlung or a Gesundheitsschädigung, an actual effect on the body. So the English assault that was only a threat, a fist raised, fear of a blow that never landed, is rendered as a Körperverletzung that asserts a wound, when German law would charge at most Bedrohung, § 241 StGB, and the assault-battery distinction the English text relies on has no place in the German offence.
Examples
| to commit assault | eine Körperverletzung begehen |
| assault occasioning actual bodily harm | die Körperverletzung mit Gesundheitsschädigung |
| a threat of violence | eine Bedrohung |
| grievous bodily harm | die schwere Körperverletzung |