I’m trying to understand the logic of this. “aufheben” means to pick something up, correct, and it can be used in this sense, like picking up objects from the floor? And as such it also means to pick it up and set it aside, presumably for use later? So then it also is used in the metaphorical sense of saving something for later? But I also see it used in very different idiomatic ways, such as to “set aside” something and make it void, or nullify, repeal, or suspend something, like a regulation, rule, or law? Or a higher court overruling a lower court?
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Interesting evidence of the German mind, which I’m trying to understand through the language. German embodies a very strong spatial sense–all those prepositions, either alone or attached to verbs, to point the listener/reader in a particular direction. And how the triumvirate of "time/manner/place get planted right in the middle of a sentence, unlike English, which scatters them all over the place.
So if a German word means to pick something up, there’s an implied ‘why’ attached. And for aufheben it seems to be to put it in its place rather definitely.
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