wesen

is a noun meaning ‘essence’ but is used as a verb, an archaic usage that means to live, exist, or work and points to a primordial level of ‘unfolding’.

Das Wesen, a noun, is the standard German counterpart to our word "essence". But wesen, a verb, is an archaic word that today is used only by poets - and Heideggerians. It originally means to live, exist or work. Like "be", it is a fundamental word for what things do at a primordial level. No English expression is really a satisfactory equivalent to wesen (to transpire? to "essence"?), but the word has often been rendered as "essentially unfold".

wesen, n.Definitions

wesen