Begriff

Forms

Begriff m (genitive Begriffes or Begriffs, plural Begriffe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German begrif (“area, district; extent”), a noun formed from begreifen in its sense “to enclose, contain”.^[2][3][4][5] The same word is Middle Low German begrip and Dutch begrip.^[3][6]

The verb is Middle High German begrīfen, Old High German bigrīfan, formed from greifen, which continues Proto-Germanic *grīpaną (“to grab”), also in Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍀𐌰𐌽 (greipan), Old Norse grípa and Old English grīpan, and is compared with Lithuanian griẽbti (“to seize”).^[6][7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, from 1293 and 1295 in charters, use begrif for a marked-off area, a district or the bounds of a property.^[3] Middle High German begrif meant an adjoining area, district or territory, also extent, meaning and idea.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “district, extent” gave way to the mental one, following begreifen, which already in Old High German translated Latin comprehendō and came to mean “to understand”.^[6][2] The noun then meant the extent and content of an idea, and also a summary or short extract.^[2][5] In the Enlightenment the philosophers Wolff and Thomasius brought it into general use, and in their terminology it was narrowed to “general notion”, distinguished from Vorstellung and used to translate Idee.^[6][2]

The phrase in etwas begriffen sein first meant “to be caught in the act”; from the 18th century it was generalised, and im Begriff sein, etwas zu tun came to mean “to be about to do something”.^[6] The adjective begrifflich is recorded from the 17th century and begriffsstutzig “slow on the uptake” from the mid-19th, at first often with umlaut.^[2]

Timeline

• 1293 – First record, for the bounds of a garden, in a charter.^[3]
• 1314 – Used for the territory under a caliph's authority.^[3]
• 17th century – The adjective begrifflich appears.^[2]
• 18th century – Wolff and Thomasius make it a philosophical term;^[2][6] im Begriff sein “to be about to” develops.^[2][6]
• Mid-19th century – begriffsstutzig appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A concept: the essential features of something taken together as one unit of thought: der Begriff der Freiheit.^[5][1]
2. A term, word or expression.^[1][8]
3. An idea, notion or understanding of something: Davon kann ich mir keinen Begriff machen.^[5][1]
4. im Begriff sein: to be about to do something: Wir waren im Begriff zu gehen.^[5]

Word family

• begrifflich
• begriffsstutzig
• Inbegriff
• Oberbegriff
• Grundbegriff
• Fachbegriff

Related words

• begreifen
• begreiflich
• greifen
• Griff

Usage notes

Schwer von Begriff sein (colloquial) is to be slow to understand, keinen Begriff von etwas haben is to have no idea of it, and etwas auf den Begriff bringen is to put it in a nutshell.^[5] Jemandem ein Begriff sein means to be known to someone.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d e 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, 613
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 103
7. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 373
8. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org