Etymologically
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Ende

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɛndə/, [ˈʔɛn.də][1]

Forms

Ende n (genitive Endes, plural Enden, diminutive Endchen n)[1] Until the 17th century the word was often masculine.[2] The plural ended in -e until the 18th century;[2][3] Enden, found now and then since the 15th century, prevailed at the beginning of the 18th.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ende, inherited from Old High German enti, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *andī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *andijaz (“end”).[4][1] The same word is Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 (andeis), Old Norse endir, Old English ende, Old Frisian enda and Old Saxon endi, and today Dutch einde, English end and Swedish ända.[4][3][5] The older languages show a masculine; the West Germanic word became neuter only late.[5]

The Germanic noun is a ja-stem, like Sanskrit अन्त्य (ántya, “being at the end, last”), and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂entíos.[4][1][5] Pfeifer explains it as “lying opposite, in front of one”, from the adverb Proto-Indo-European *anti (“opposite”) of Ancient Greek ἀντί (antí, “facing, instead of”) and Latin ante (“before”), itself an old locative of a noun “front, forehead”.[3] Kluge also starts from “forehead”, comparing Old High German endi (“forehead”), enni (“forehead”), antiae (“hair over the forehead”) and Old Irish étan (“forehead”); other relatives are Hittite ḫanza (“in front”) and अन्त (ánta, “end, border”).[4][3] The prefix ent- and the first part of Antlitz and Antwort belong to the same group.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German enti is first recorded in the 8th century, in a gloss of 790–802 that renders Latin fines “boundaries”.[3][2] In the Old High German texts it meant “end, border, edge, point” and also “side, front”, “death” and “goal”;[7] in ende meant “for ever”.[7]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of space first and was applied to time early on.[6][8] Already in Old and Middle High German it could mean “death” and “fate”, and in religious language the end of the world.[6][7] In Middle High German it also meant “direction, side” and “manner”, as in des endes “that way”.[9][10]

Since the word often names the last piece of something, ein Ende Brot is a regional word for a small piece, and colloquially ein ganzes Ende is a long way.[8][11] In hunters' language Ende is a tine of an antler, hence Zwölfender “a stag with twelve tines”,[6][8] and in seamen's language a piece of rope.[11][12]

Timeline

  • 790–802 – Old High German enti glosses Latin fines.[2]
  • 15th century – The plural Enden is first recorded.[2]
  • 17th century – The masculine gender becomes rare.[2]
  • Early 18th century – Enden replaces the old plural Ende.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The place where something stops, its end: am Ende des Flurs.[11][1]
  2. The point in time when something stops, the last stage, conclusion: Ende Mai;[11][1] das Spiel ist zu Ende.[11][1]
  3. (formal, euphemistic) death.[11][12]
  4. The last or outermost piece of something;[11] (regional) a small piece.[11]
  5. (colloquial) A fairly long distance: Bis zum Dorf ist es noch ein Ende.[11]
  6. (hunting) A tine of an antler.[11][6]
  7. (nautical) A piece of rope.[11][12]

Word family

Usage notes

Am Ende means “in the end, after all”, and letzten Endes “ultimately”.[11] Ende gut, alles gut is the German form of “all's well that ends well”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. 8, 1293
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 245
  5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  7. ^ a b c Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 89
  8. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 549
  10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  12. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org