Fan

Forms

Fan m (genitive Fans, plural Fans)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English fan (“enthusiastic supporter”), borrowed in the middle of the 20th century.^[2][3][4] The English word, which came to German from American usage, is a shortening of fanatic (“fanatic, zealot”).^[3][5][1] That adjective goes back to Latin fānāticus (“inspired, frenzied”), which belongs to fānum (“temple, sanctuary”).^[2][3]

The same loan is found in Dutch, French, Swedish and Norwegian (Dutch fan, French fan, Swedish fan).^[2] In German it is related to fanatisch and, more distantly, to profan.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch's first record is from 1949, in the compound Jazz-Fans “jazz fans”; the revised Grimm dictionary also notes that the word first appears as the second part of Jazzfan.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

English already had sporadic spellings phan and fann in the late 17th century.^[3] In German the word was at first used above all of devotees of jazz, sport and film, and of young enthusiasts.^[5][3] It soon became very productive as the second part of compounds such as Fußballfan, Jazzfan, Autofan and Opernfan.^[5] A feminine Fanin has occasionally been formed, but Fan is normally used of women as well.^[5][7]

In technical language Fan also names the front part of a jet engine, the fan.^[8]

Timeline

• Late 17th century – English has sporadic forms phan, fann.^[3]
• 1949 – First German record, in Jazz-Fans.^[5]
• 1951 – Female Fans are mentioned, still in quotation marks.^[5]
• Mid-20th century – The word is established in German.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An enthusiastic supporter or admirer of someone or something, such as a singer, a team or a kind of music: Die Fans warteten stundenlang vor dem Hotel.^[7][1]
2. (technology) The fan of a jet engine, its front stage.^[8]

Word family

• Fußballfan
• Jazzfan
• Filmfan

Related words

• fanatisch
• profan
• English fan

Usage notes

The rare female first name Fan is a separate word: a short or pet form of Fanny.^[8] The noun is pronounced as in English, [fɛn].^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 276
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 255
5. ^ a b c d e f g Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
6. ^ 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, 126
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org