Druck

Forms

Druck m (genitive Druckes or Drucks, plural Drücke)^[1] In the sense “print, printing” the plural is Drucke; in the sense “pressure” Drücke is usual today.^[1][2][3] Paul notes that the umlaut prevails in compounds such as Abdrücke, Eindrücke and Händedrücke, but not in Buchdrucke.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German druc, inherited from Old High German thruc (“pressure”), a noun formed from the verb drücken.^[5][6][2][1] That verb is Old High German drucchen, from Proto-West Germanic *þrukkijan (“to press”), also in Old English þryccan, probably an intensive formation to the stem of Old Norse þrúga (“to press, threaten”).^[5][6] Pfeifer connects it with Lithuanian trū́kti (“to tear apart, burst”) and derives it from Proto-Indo-European *trewk-, an extension of the root Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”) of drehen and drohen;^[6] Kluge also counts dreschen, dringen and verdrießen among its relatives.^[5] The same noun is Middle Low German druk, Middle Dutch druc and Dutch druk.^[7]

The sense “print” belongs to drucken, the Upper German form of that verb without umlaut, since in Upper German /k/ prevented the umlaut.^[5][6] Because the important early centres of printing lay in the south, the southern form won for printing books.^[5][8] Pfeifer and the revised Grimm dictionary give the noun in this sense an article of its own, formed from the southern verb, which is the same in origin.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German thruc is recorded once, in Notker about 1000, of the weight of the body pressing on the soul.^[7][9] The revised Grimm dictionary notes that the noun is rare in Notker, more frequent from about 1200, and strikingly rare again from the 16th to the early 18th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German druc meant a press or thrust, a hostile clash in battle and a tender embrace, as in Rudolf von Ems' süezer druc, senfter umbevanc (“sweet pressing, gentle embrace”, 1220–1225).^[10][11][2] Figurative pressure on the mind, and oppression, are found from Old High German on.^[4][12] The physical sense, force on a surface, became a technical term in compounds such as Luftdruck and Wasserdruck.^[6][13]

Printing, of cloth with patterns and of paper with woodcuts or type, was developed in Upper Germany in the 15th century.^[6] Until the 17th century drücken and drucken stood side by side with the same meaning; then drucken was kept as the technical term for printing and drücken for pressing.^[6][4] So Druck came to mean both the process of printing and its product, a print.^[6][1] The word passed into Polish as druk (1551) and into Russian as друк (1650), a printed work.^[14] In drug slang Druck is an injection, a fix.^[13][1]

Timeline

• About 1000 – Notker uses Old High German thruc.^[9][7]
• About 1200 – The noun becomes more frequent in Middle High German.^[2]
• 15th century – Druck is used of printing;^[6] Drucker and Druckerei appear.^[6]
• About 1480 – Folz praises the art of printing (des drukez).^[3]
• 1551 – Polish druk is recorded.^[14]
• 1639 – Druckfehler “misprint” is recorded.^[4]
• 17th century – drucken and drücken are separated in meaning.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (physics) pressure, force acting on a surface: Der Druck im Reifen beträgt zwei bar.^[13][1]
2. The act of pressing: ein Druck auf den Schalter.^[13][15]
3. A feeling of pressure in part of the body: Sie spürte einen Druck auf der Brust.^[13]
4. coercion, pressure on someone; stress: Die Regierung geriet unter Druck.^[13][1]
5. (slang) An injection of a drug, a fix.^[13][1]
6. The process of printing: Das Manuskript geht nächste Woche in Druck.^[1][3][12]
7. A print, a printed work or reproduction.^[1][15]

Word family

• Abdruck
• Ausdruck
• Eindruck
• Händedruck
• Blutdruck
• Luftdruck
• Buchdruck
• Druckfehler
• Drucksache
• Druckknopf
• Hochdruck

Related words

• drücken
• drucken
• Drucker
• Druckerei
• drohen
• drehen

Usage notes

Druck hinter etwas machen (colloquial) is to make sure that something is done quickly, and im Druck sein is to be short of time.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 6, 1424
3. ^ 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. 6, 1429
4. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 219
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
7. ^ a b c 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. 2, 687
8. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 470
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
15. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org