Erfahrung

Forms

Erfahrung f (genitive Erfahrung, plural Erfahrungen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German ervarunge, inherited from Old High German irfarunga (“trial, experiment”), formed from Old High German irfaran + -unga, the source of erfahren.^[2][1] The noun has a counterpart in Middle Low German ervāringe.^[3]

That verb, recorded from about 800, is a prefixed verb of fahren and meant at first, until Early New High German, “to travel through, reach, overtake”; already in late Old High German it developed the sense “to get to know, explore”.^[4] Kluge describes the change as one from travelling through a land to getting to know it, and then to getting to know in general.^[5] Middle Low German ervāren has the same range of senses.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German irfarunga is found only in glosses of the 11th and 12th centuries, in Bavarian manuscripts, where it renders Latin experimentum “trial, experiment”.^[2][6][7] Middle High German ervarunge also meant “travelling through” and “investigation”.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle and Early New High German the noun meant an inquiry or investigation: a document of 1287 speaks of the ervarunge des schaden, the assessment of a damage, and the criminal code of 1532 orders that, where there is no sufficient evidence, an erfarung (inquiry) be made.^[3][9] The sense of knowledge gained by practice is recorded from 1478, when Niclas von Wyle writes that one can never learn as much durch aigen erfarung “by one's own experience” as from reading.^[3] Luther used the word for Latin probatio in Romans 5:4, gedult aber bringet erfarung.^[9]

Older German also had Erfahrnis and Erfahrenheit; many compounds such as Erfahrungssatz, Erfahrungswelt and Erfahrungswissenschaft appeared in the 18th century, when the word became a term of philosophy beside Empirie.^[10] Adelung records eine Erfahrung machen and etwas in Erfahrung bringen “to find something out”.^[11]

Timeline

• 11th–12th century – Old High German irfarunga glosses Latin experimentum.^[2]
• 1287 – ervarunge “investigation” in a charter.^[3]
• 1478 – First record of the sense “practical experience”.^[3]
• 1532 – The criminal code of Charles V uses erfarung for a judicial inquiry.^[9]
• 18th century – Compounds such as Erfahrungswissenschaft appear.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Knowledge and skill gained through practice or repetition; routine: Sie hat lange Erfahrung im Gartenbau.^[8][1]
2. An experience from which one learns something: Wir haben mit diesem Händler gute Erfahrungen gemacht.^[8][1]
3. (philosophy) Knowledge gained through perception and sensation, as the basis of cognition.^[8]
4. etwas in Erfahrung bringen: to find something out by inquiry.^[8][11]

Word family

• Erfahrungswissenschaft

Related words

• erfahren
• fahren
• Erfahrenheit

Usage notes

The proverb Erfahrung ist die beste Lehrmeisterin “experience is the best teacher” is listed by Duden.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 5, 160
3. ^ 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. 8, 1701
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. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 254
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 97
8. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ 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, 793
10. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ a b Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf