Bedeutung

Forms

Bedeutung f (genitive Bedeutung, plural Bedeutungen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bediutunge (“interpretation”),^[2][3] formed from German bedeuten + -ung.^[1][4] That verb is Old High German bithiuten (“to mean, signify”) (11th century), Middle High German bediuten, beside Middle Dutch bedieden and Old Frisian bithiōda; it was formed with be- from deuten.^[5][6]

The simple verb is Old High German diuten, Middle High German diuten, the same verb as Dutch duiden, Old English geþīedan (“to translate”) and Old Norse þýða (“to interpret”).^[7][5] Pfeifer, like Köbler, takes it as a verb formed from Proto-Germanic *þeudō (“people”), the word behind deutsch, meaning “to make clear to the people”.^[5][3] Kluge notes that the verb often meant “to say in the vernacular”, as in the Old High German phrase zi diuta (“in the vernacular”) (9th century), so that it was felt to belong to Old High German diot (“people”), but he denies that it can be derived from it in meaning; he points out that the base of that adjective also meant “strength”, and that strength often gives words for meaning, as in Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power; meaning”) and Latin vīs (“force; meaning”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German bediutunge “meaning, sense, interpretation” is first recorded in the Lucidarius (1190–1195).^[3] In Jansen Enikel's world chronicle (about 1280) a dream is called ein bediutunge that a young king will come, that is, a sign of things to come.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The sense of omen, later expressed by Vorbedeutung, lasted long: in 1473 Steinhöwel lists the signs of certain death, and in 1584 a portent is called eine bedeutung des kriegs.^[8] The word also meant the interpretation of a dream or a word, as in Luther's Genesis 40:5, a sense now taken by Deutung.^[9] Early New High German used it for the meaning of a word, a name, a text or a sign.^[10]

The senses “significance, weight” appear in Kant, Schiller and Goethe.^[9] Adelung records both the concept a word expresses and importance, as in ein Mann von Bedeutung.^[11]

Timeline

• 1190–1195 – bediutunge in the Lucidarius.^[3]
• c. 1280 – bediutunge “portent” in Jansen Enikel.^[8]
• 1473 – Steinhöwel speaks of the betütung of a disease.^[8]
• 1793 – Adelung records the sense “importance”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sense that lies in an action, an event or a thing: Sie fragte nach der Bedeutung des Traums.^[2][1]
2. The meaning of a word or sign, the content expressed by it: Das Wort „Schloss“ hat mehrere Bedeutungen.^[2][1]
3. importance, consequence: Die Entscheidung ist für die Region von großer Bedeutung.^[2][1]
4. Standing, prestige: ein Maler von Bedeutung.^[2][11]

Word family

• bedeutungslos
• bedeutungsvoll
• Bedeutungswandel
• Bedeutungslehre
• Grundbedeutung
• Nebenbedeutung
• Lehnbedeutung

Related words

• bedeuten
• deuten
• Deutung
• deutsch

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ 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. 4, 412
7. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 194
8. ^ a b c d 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. 4, 421
9. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1230
10. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
11. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf