Etymologically
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Antwort

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈantvɔʁt/[1]

Forms

Antwort f (genitive Antwort, plural Antworten)[1] Old High German antwurti was neuter; a feminine of the same form existed beside it, and the feminine prevailed after the Middle High German period.[2][3] Luther still used the neuter (ein richtiges antwort), and the feminine has been the only gender since the end of the 16th century.[4][3] The form Antwort for older antwürte arose from association with Wort, beginning in late Middle High German and established in the 15th century.[2][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German antwürte, inherited from Old High German antwurti, inherited from Proto-Germanic *andawurdiją (“answer, counter-word”).[2][5][1] It is a collective formation from the word for word with the prefix Proto-Germanic *anda- (“against”) (as in Antlitz and ent-), so that it first meant “counter-speech, rejoinder”.[2][5][6] The same formation is Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌹 (andawaurdi), Old Saxon andwordi, Old English andwyrde, Old Frisian ondwarde and the plural Old Norse andyrði.[2][5][3] Today it lives on only in German and in Dutch antwoord;[5] English and the Scandinavian languages chose formations related to schwören instead, as English answer and Swedish svar.[5]

Old High German also had antwart (“presence”), formed with the same prefix on another base (that of Gegenwart); in the legal formulas of Middle High German and Middle Low German it fell together in form with the word for “answer”.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German antwurti is recorded from the 8th century, in a gloss on Luke 2:47 (responsis ejus “at his answers”), and then in the Benedictine Rule, the Tatian, Otfrid (863–871), Notker and Williram, about 74 times in all.[3][9][10] It meant “answer”, and also “promise” and “oracle”.[10][9]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged to the language of law from early on: Middle High German antwürten meant especially to defend oneself or someone else before a court, and the noun also meant the defendant's reply to a charge, a justification, and an account given at the Last Judgement.[5][11][12] This sense survives in verantworten and in Rede und Antwort stehen “to give an account of oneself”.[5][12] In disputation it was also an argument against a previous speaker.[11][12] Adelung (1793) gives the proverbs wie die Frage, so die Antwort and keine Antwort ist auch eine Antwort, and the figurative use for anything that takes the place of an answer, such as a bitter laugh.[13] After French répondre, Leibniz, Wieland and Goethe sometimes used the verb antworten for “to correspond to”.[12]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German antwurti glosses Latin responsum.[3][9]
  • 863–871 – Otfrid uses the word, sometimes as a feminine.[3][9]
  • 9th century – The verb antwurten is recorded.[5]
  • 15th century – The form Antwort replaces antwürte.[2]
  • 2nd half of the 15th century – Verantwortung “justification, defence” is recorded.[5]
  • End of the 16th century – The feminine gender becomes the only one.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An answer, reply: something said or written in response to a question, a letter or a remark: Auf meine E-Mail habe ich noch keine Antwort bekommen.[14][1]
  2. A reaction, a response in deeds: Als Antwort schlug sie die Tür zu.[14]

Word family

  • antworten
  • beantworten
  • verantworten
  • Verantwortung
  • überantworten

Usage notes

Um Antwort wird gebeten (abbreviated u.A.w.g.) is the German RSVP on invitations.[14] Jemandem die Antwort schuldig bleiben is to leave someone without an answer.[14][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 51
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 3, 57
  4. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 508
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 124
  7. ^ Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 3, 56
  8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  10. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 39
  11. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  12. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  13. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 397
  14. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag