Eintritt

Forms

Eintritt m (genitive Eintrittes or Eintritts, plural Eintritte)^[1]

Etymology

It is the noun of eintreten, Middle High German întrit.^[1][2][3] The verb is from German ein- + treten.^[1] treten goes back to Proto-West Germanic *tredan (“to tread”), also in Old English tredan and Old Frisian treda, beside Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽 (trudan) and Old Norse troða with another vowel grade.^[4] It has no exact relatives outside Germanic and is probably imitative in origin.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German întrit is first recorded in Nicolaus von Jeroschin's chronicle of the Teutonic Order (about 1330–1340), meaning “entrance, access”: dî lant von dem întritte des rîchis zu Egipten (“the lands from the entrance of the kingdom of Egypt”).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word referred to places, such as the entrance of a house or a river mouth, and to the arrival of a person or of a time: beim Eintritt der Nacht “at nightfall”.^[2][6] Stieler records it in 1691.^[7] The sense “entrance fee” dates from the second half of the 18th century, in Kant.^[7][6] Morhof used it for the opening part of a ballet, after French entrée.^[6] Adelung records it for entering a room, a town or an office, and for the beginning of a season.^[8]

The dialect of Teschen in Polish borrowed it as ajntryt “admission ticket”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1330–1340 – Nicolaus von Jeroschin uses întrit.^[2][3]
• 1691 – Stieler records Eintritt.^[7]
• Second half of the 18th century – The sense “entrance fee” appears.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Entry into a room or building; admission to an organisation as a member.^[10][1][11]
2. The beginning or occurrence of something: der Eintritt der Dämmerung “the onset of dusk”.^[10][1]
3. Access to an event or place, usually against a fee: Eintritt frei “admission free”.^[10][1]
4. Short for Eintrittsgeld: the entrance fee.^[10][11]
5. (ball games) Qualification for a round of a competition.^[10]

Word family

• Eintrittskarte
• Eintrittsgeld
• Eintrittspreis

Related words

• eintreten
• treten
• Tritt

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 7, 1109
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 929
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 872
6. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 331
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 1, 1758
9. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org