Etymologically
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Berg

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Pronunciation

  • /bɛrk/, [bɛɐ̯k][1]

Forms

Berg m (genitive Berges or Bergs, plural Berge)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German berc, inherited from Old High German berg, inherited from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“mountain”).[2][1][3][4] The same word is Old Saxon berg, Old Frisian berch, Old English beorg, whose descendant is the English barrow “burial mound”, and Old Norse bjarg “rock”;[2][3][4] Gothic has it only in the derivative Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌷𐌴𐌹 (bairgahei, “hill country”), its usual word for a mountain being 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌲𐌿𐌽𐌹 (fairguni).[2][3][4]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *bʰérǵʰos (“height”), also found in Avestan barəzah- (“height, mountain”), Old Church Slavonic брѣгъ (brěgŭ, “bank, slope”), Russian берег (béreg, “shore”) and Old Irish brí (“hill”).[2][5][6] It belongs to a verb meaning “to rise, grow” in Hittite parkiya-, and to adjectives for “high” such as parku-; the same root gives the names of the Burgundians, the Brigantes, Bregenz and Brigitte.[2][6] Pfeifer derives the root from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to carry, lift”), as does the revised Grimm.[7][8] Kluge and Pfeifer explain the velar of the Slavic word by Slavic behaving here like a centum language, rather than by a borrowing from Germanic.[2][7] Burg is probably an ablaut form of the same word.[7][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German berg appears in glosses from about 765 and in the Tatian of about 830, where the city ubar berg gisezzitu “set on a hill” (Matthew 5:14) cannot be hidden.[10][8] Notker (before 1022) and the other Old High German texts use it for a mountain or hill, and obenahtīgēr berg for its summit.[11][8]

Semantic evolution

Early New High German used berg for any rise from a hill to high mountains, and also for mining and its districts, a mine, barren rock, a quarry, a salt mine and a wood.[12] The mining senses come from the fact that ore and coal were at first dug only in mountains: hence old compounds such as Bergwerk, Bergbau and Bergmann, which is first recorded as a trade name in Goslar in 1359.[9][6] Kluge dates Bergbau to 1624, in the Erzgebirge.[9]

The figurative sense “huge quantity” (Berge von Akten) is old, and is now productive in compounds like Bücherberg or Butterberg.[9][13] Phrases go back to Luther (über alle Berge, über den Berg sein) and to Terence's montes auri (goldene Berge versprechen).[9] German mining words with Berg were borrowed into Czech and Slovak, as perk “barren rock”.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German berg in glosses.[10]
  • c. 830 – The Tatian uses berg in Matthew 5:14.[8]
  • 1359 – Bergmann is first recorded as the name of a trade, in Goslar.[9]
  • 14th century – bergeht “mountainous” appears, the ancestor of bergig.[7]
  • 1624 – Bergbau is first recorded, in the Erzgebirge.[9]
  • c. 1800 – Bergsteiger “mountaineer” is formed.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mountain or hill, a large natural rise of the ground: Wir sind auf den höchsten Berg der Gegend gestiegen.[13][1]
  2. (plural) Mountains, a mountain range: Im Sommer fahren sie in die Berge.[13]
  3. A large heap or quantity of something: ein Berg von Wäsche.[13][15]
  4. (mining, plural) Barren rock without ore.[13][12]

Word family

  • bergig
  • Gebirge
  • Bergbau
  • Bergmann
  • Bergwerk
  • Bergsteiger
  • bergab
  • bergauf
  • Eisberg
  • Burg
  • bergen
  • English barrow

Usage notes

Mit etwas hinter dem Berg halten “to keep something back” is said to come from military use, from troops or guns kept out of the enemy's sight behind a hill.[16][13] Über den Berg sein is to be past the worst, and über alle Berge sein to be long gone.[13][9] Wenn der Berg nicht zum Propheten kommt, muss der Prophet zum Berge gehen goes back to an oriental source.[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. 110
  3. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 1, 553
  5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 162
  7. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  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, 1021
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 46
  12. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Deutsches Universalwörterbuch (2007), 6th ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  14. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  15. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
  16. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 163