Beginn

Forms

Beginn m (genitive Beginnes or Beginns, plural Beginne)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German begin, a noun formed from the verb beginnen.^[2][3][4] The older Old High German bigin “beginning, origin” is so rarely attested that the Old High German dictionary takes the Middle High German noun, like Middle Dutch begin, to be a fresh formation from the verb.^[5][3][6]

The verb is beginnen, biginnan, Old Saxon biginnan, a prefixed form of the stem Proto-Germanic *-ginnaną that occurs only with prefixes, as in Gothic 𐌳𐌿𐌲𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (duginnan), Old English beginnan and onginnan.^[2][3] Its further origin is unclear.^[2][3][7] Kluge thinks a basic sense “to grasp” likely, by comparison with anfangen, and compares Latin prehendō (“to seize”) and Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”).^[2] Pfeifer mentions this and a link with an Albanian verb as possibilities, and also de Vries's suggestion of a non-Indo-European substrate.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German bigin is found only in Isidor (end of the 8th century) and the Monsee fragments, meaning “beginning” and “origin”.^[8][9][10] Isidor speaks of the root of wisdom that is bighin gotes sunes, “the origin of the Son of God”.^[5] Middle High German begin appears from about 1173, in the Anegenge.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German begin (also neuter beginne) meant “beginning, origin”, and also “undertaking, action”.^[4][6] It was long less usual than Anbeginn, and came into common use only in the 19th century.^[6] Adelung, around 1800, called Beginn obsolete in High German, kept only in the elevated style.^[11] The Grimms quoted Opitz and Logau for it, including the sense “intention, undertaking”.^[12]

Timeline

• End of the 8th century – Old High German bigin appears in Isidor.^[8][6]
• c. 1173 – Middle High German begin in the Anegenge.^[4]
• c. 1180–1190 – Hartmann von Aue uses begin.^[6]
• c. 1800 – Adelung calls the word obsolete except in elevated style.^[11]
• 19th century – Beginn becomes common.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The moment when something starts; the beginning, start of a period of time: Zu Beginn der Sitzung wurde abgestimmt.^[13][1]
2. (less often) The beginning of something in space: am Beginn des Wanderwegs.^[13]

Word family

• Arbeitsbeginn
• Schulbeginn
• Spielbeginn

Related words

• beginnen
• Anbeginn
• Anfang
• English begin

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 102
3. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 1017
6. ^ a b c d e f 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, 580
7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 49
10. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 2, 32
11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 802
12. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 1296
13. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag