mortgage

noun · Grundschuld

Grundschuld is what the German market writes, Hypothek is what the dictionary says. The English mortgage is accessory by instinct, the German practice instrument is not, § 1191 BGB, it hangs on a Sicherungsvertrag instead of on the loan, and the machine’s Hypothek describes a security German banks stopped drafting a generation ago.

Which translation, when

Grundschuldthe market instrument, § 1191 BGB, a land charge independent of any claim, tied to the secured loan only through the Sicherungsvertrag, with the owner’s defences protected against acquirers by § 1192 Abs. 1a BGB. The default reading in German finance.

Hypothekthe accessory textbook instrument, § 1113 BGB, rising and falling with the secured claim and travelling only with it, § 1153 BGB. Right where the text really describes an accessory land security, rare in modern practice.

Why

An English mortgage secures a debt and lives with it, which makes Hypothek feel like the natural twin, § 1113 BGB, accessory, transferred only together with the claim, § 1153 BGB. German practice left that instrument behind. The market runs on the Grundschuld, § 1191 BGB, a land charge that exists independently of any claim, created like every land right by Einigung und Eintragung, § 873 BGB, and connected to the loan through a contract, the Sicherungsvertrag, with § 1192 Abs. 1a BGB carrying the owner’s defences from that contract even against acquirers of a Sicherungsgrundschuld. The practical grammar differs everywhere, release, transfer, refinancing and enforcement all answer the Sicherungsvertrag rather than the debt, so a translation that says Hypothek has not merely picked the rarer word, it has described the wrong mechanics to every reader who works on German real estate finance.

Typical mistakes

Hypothek dates the text, German finance runs on the Grundschuld, and a term sheet promising Hypotheken tells the bank’s German counsel the drafting never met the market.
Accessoriness flips the risk story, an English mortgage falls with the debt, a Grundschuld survives repayment until released, the borrower’s protection sits in the Sicherungsvertrag and, against acquirers, in § 1192 Abs. 1a BGB.
Mortgage over movables is a category error twice, German land security stays on land, movables run on the Sicherungsübereignung, and the chattel mortgage has no German twin.

What matters

Refinancing term sheets are where the dictionary meets the market: security to include a first-ranking mortgage over the property reads erstrangige Grundschuld, and the release mechanics live in the Sicherungsvertrag, not in the loan. The Hypothek version promises accessory machinery German banks no longer draft, and the borrower’s counsel spends the first call explaining which instrument the parties actually meant.

Authority

§ 1191 BGB
§ 1113 BGB
§ 1153 BGB
§ 1192 Abs. 1a BGB
§ 873 BGB

What the machine misses

Mortgage returns from the engines as Hypothek without hesitation, the dictionary’s oldest pair, and the German security landscape has moved on, the market instrument is the non-accessory Grundschuld tied to a Sicherungsvertrag. The output describes textbook law to a reader who works in practice law, and every downstream sentence about release, transfer and defences quietly answers the wrong instrument.

Examples

a first-ranking mortgage	eine erstrangige Grundschuld
to grant a mortgage over the property	eine Grundschuld an dem Grundstück bestellen
the mortgagee	der Grundschuldgläubiger
mortgage deed	die Grundschuldbestellungsurkunde