The word "nachvollziehbar", ironically, means comprehensible. As is often the case it makes me want to understand the subtleties of the word and the component parts. For example, is there such a word as "vollziehbar" or "ziehbar"? Well, the answer is, "no", but that doesn't stop me because, like English, German follows patterns, and follows them much more closely than does English.
The suffix "-bar" is similar to the English suffix "-able", so if you strip off the "-bar" and turn the word into a verb, that often yields some interesting results. So, as expected "nachvollziehen" just means to comprehend, which was expected, but what is "vollziehen". That, as it happens, has lots of meanings.
It can mean "happen", "take place", or more actively, "to make happen" or "carry out an action". Translating the components of the word "voll" and "ziehen" as "full" and "to pull" respectively, one gets the sense of fully completing or pulling through to the end, which makes sense. But in different contexts, "vollziehen" can have the meaning of completing an act of marriage, as in to consummate the marriage "die Ehe vollziehen". I'm not sure which meaning led to which, but it also is used more broadly to mean any act of sexual congress in the phrase, "mit jemandem den Beischlaf vollziehen". Finally, it can also be used in the context of non-sexual congress as well. To say that an act of congress has been executed, or enacted is to say, "ein Gesetz vollziehen".
At that point I'm finally feeling sleepy enough that I lay down the phone and drift off to sleep.
