Bewegung

Forms

Bewegung f (genitive Bewegung, plural Bewegungen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German bewegunge, inherited from Old High German biwegunga (“motion”), formed from German bewegen + -ung.^[2][1][3] The verb bewegen mixes a strong and a weak prefixed verb, used side by side without a clear line from the start: the strong biwegan (“to set in motion, weigh up”) belongs to the simple wegan (“to weigh, move”), which survives with a narrowed sense in wägen.^[4][5] Kluge prefers to see the weak verb, which had “to change the position of” as its sense from the outset, as a prefixed form of the weak simple verb.^[6]

The strong simple verb corresponds to Old Saxon wegan, Old English wegan (“to move, carry, weigh”), whence English weigh, Old Norse vega (“to swing, lift, weigh”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gawigan, “to move, shake”).^[4][5] Outside Germanic it is related to Sanskrit वहति (váhati, “drives, carries”), Latin vehō (“to carry, convey”), Lithuanian vežti (“to carry, drive”) and Russian везти (vezti, “to carry”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, carry, drive”).^[4][5][3] Weg, Wagen, Woge and Wiege belong to the same root.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a 12th-century gloss that renders Latin motio “motion” with biwegunga.^[2][3] In Middle High German the mystics used bewegunge in the middle of the 13th century for a stirring of feeling, as in ungestüemiu bewegunge “violent emotion”, before God pours himself into the heart with greater peace.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early New High German used the word for the motion of bodies, especially heavenly bodies and water, and also for a thought, a motive, an emotion, and resistance or the forming of a party.^[7] From that period it also meant “uproar”, as in Luther's nicht eine kleine Bewegung “no small stir” in Acts.^[8][9] Kant defined the motion of a thing as the change of its outer relations to a given space, and Goethe wrote that Lavater's visit to Frankfurt hat grosze bewegung gemacht “caused a great stir”.^[9]

In the 19th century the word took on the sense of a social group's common striving for political or social aims and became a key word of politics.^[10] From the 1920s the National Socialists claimed it, and in their usage die Bewegung meant National Socialism and the NSDAP.^[10] In the second half of the 20th century new social movements arose, grouped from the 1980s under the phrase neue soziale Bewegungen.^[10] The ZDL word history begins its quotations with a sermon of Alexius Crosner printed in Wittenberg in 1531.^[10]

Timeline

• 12th century – Old High German biwegunga glosses Latin motio.^[2]
• Mid-13th century – Middle High German mystics use bewegunge for an emotion.^[2]
• 1531 – The earliest quotation in the ZDL word history.^[10]
• 16th century – The sense “uproar, stir” is in use.^[8]
• 19th century – The sense “political or social movement” develops.^[10]
• 1920s – die Bewegung becomes a National Socialist name for their party.^[10]
• 1980s – The phrase neue soziale Bewegungen comes into use.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A movement of the body or a part of it, a change of position or posture; a gesture: Mit einer raschen Bewegung griff sie nach dem Glas.^[11][1]
2. motion, the state of moving; physical exercise: Der Arzt rät ihm zu mehr Bewegung an der frischen Luft. Fixed phrases: in Bewegung setzen, in Bewegung geraten.^[11][1]
3. Inner emotion, being moved: Seine Stimme zitterte vor Bewegung.^[11]
4. A political or intellectual movement, the common striving of a large group: die Arbeiterbewegung.^[11][1]
5. A group of people joined to achieve a common, often political, aim: Die Bewegung gewann rasch Anhänger.^[11]

Interjection

1. (colloquial) Get moving!, hurry up!^[1]

Word family

• bewegungslos
• Gemütsbewegung
• Arbeiterbewegung

Related words

• bewegen
• beweglich
• wägen
• Weg
• Wagen
• Wiege

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 5, 97
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 118
7. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
8. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
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, 1775
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Wortgeschichte digital (2020–), Zentrum für digitale Lexikographie der deutschen Sprache (ZDL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, zdl.org/wb/wortgeschichten
11. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag