Etymologically
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Fahrt

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Pronunciation

  • /faːrt/, [fa(ː)ʁt], [fa(ː)ɐ̯t][1]

Forms

Fahrt f (genitive Fahrt, plural Fahrten)[1] The original plural verte, with umlaut, was increasingly replaced by Fahrten from the 15th century.[2] Since Middle High German times the genitive and dative singular have also taken the shorter form without umlaut.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vart, inherited from Old High German fart, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fardi, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fardiz (“journey”), a noun in ⟨*-ti-⟩ formed from the verb fahren.[3][1][4] The same word is Old Saxon fard, Middle Low German vārt, Middle Dutch vaert, Old English fierd and Old Norse ferð, and today Dutch vaart and Swedish färd.[3][2] Gothic has no such noun.[5]

The verb is Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to pierce, bring across”), whose nearest relative is Ancient Greek πορεύω (poreúō, “I carry, bring, (middle) I go across”); Latin portō (“to carry”) also belongs here.[4] Wiktionary gives the pre-Germanic noun as Proto-Indo-European *portís.[1] Fährte “track of game” arose from inflected forms of the Middle High German noun.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fart is recorded from the 8th century in glosses, and then in the Tatian of about 830 (after thero ferti zi Babyloniu, “after the deportation to Babylon”), the Murbach Hymns, Otfrid and Notker.[7][2][8] Its senses ranged widely: “journey, going, course, flight, speed, track, opportunity”.[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The old general sense survives only in compounds: Himmelfahrt (Old High German), Höllenfahrt (Middle High German), and, including travel on foot, Wallfahrt, Pilgerfahrt and Kreuzfahrt “crusade”.[10] The youth movement around 1900 revived Fahrt for a hike, with Fahrtenlied and Fahrtenmesser.[10] In mining a Fahrt is a ladder.[10]

Otherwise the word came to be restricted to travel in a vehicle or by ship, as Adelung notes;[10] große Fahrt was first a seaman's term, in the 19th century.[10] By transfer it means “speed”, as in Fahrt machen (Adelung) and in voller Fahrt, and regionally “haste, excitement”;[10] in Fahrt sein “to be worked up” was still a young phrase for Trübner.[10]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German fart appears in glosses.[7]
  • c. 830 – The Tatian uses the dative ferti.[2]
  • 15th century – The plural Fahrten without umlaut spreads.[2]
  • 18th century – Fährte is recorded as a hunting word for tracks of game.[3]
  • 1908 – The preface of the Zupfgeigenhansl speaks of Wanderfahrten, hikes of the youth movement.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The act of driving or travelling; a drive or ride.[11][1]
  2. The speed of a vehicle or ship: Fahrt aufnehmen “to pick up speed”.[11]
  3. A journey, trip.[11][1]
  4. (dated) A hike of several days by young people, often with tents.[11]
  5. (mining) A ladder in a shaft; also a cable hoist.[11]
  6. (shipping) A navigation area.[11]
  7. (regional) A ferry boat.[11]

Word family

  • Fährte
  • Himmelfahrt
  • Wallfahrt
  • Wohlfahrt
  • Abfahrt
  • Ausfahrt
  • Einfahrt
  • Raumfahrt
  • Luftfahrt
  • Kreuzfahrt

Usage notes

In Fahrt kommen (colloquial) is to get going, get into a good mood, or to get angry;[11][10] jemanden in Fahrt bringen is to cheer someone up or to make someone angry.[11][10] A Fahrt ins Blaue is an outing with an unknown destination.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. 9, 58
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 272
  5. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1263
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 253
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 97
  9. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 73
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 c d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag