Fest

Forms

Fest n (genitive Festes or Fests, plural Feste)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German fest (also feminine feste), borrowed from Latin fēstum (“feast day”), borrowed in the 13th century.^[2][3][4] The Latin noun is the neuter of fēstus (“festive, devoted to religious rites”), which originally described days set apart for religious ceremonies and is related to fēriae (“holidays”) (see Feier and Ferien) and fānum (“sanctuary”).^[3][4] The Latin plural gave Old French feste, which influenced the Middle High German feminine.^[2] The word is not related to the adjective fest “firm”, and the Grimms stress that it was pronounced with an open /ɛ/, unlike that adjective in their time.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grimms found the earliest instances in Konrad von Würzburg's Trojanerkrieg (1281–87), where a feast is held, and the revised dictionary quotes it for a solemn festival of Pallas.^[5][6][7] In Middle High German it meant a feast day, first of the Christian calendar.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Before the borrowing, Old High German used tuld and Middle High German hôchgezît for a festival.^[5] As Fest spread in the general sense of a celebration, Hochzeit narrowed to the wedding feast, and the southern word Dult was pushed back to the meaning “fair”.^[3][9] Paul notes that Fest became the narrower word for the event, beside the broader Feier.^[9]

Since Middle High German it has been used both of church feasts (Osterfest, Weihnachtsfest) and of secular celebrations;^[9][5] Goethe's Saure Wochen, frohe Feste is often quoted.^[9][5] The adjective festlich is first recorded in Henisch in 1616.^[9] The French form Fete has been used since the 18th century, now mostly by young people.^[9] German Fest was borrowed into Danish, Swedish and Norwegian, and into English as fest.^[1]

Timeline

• 1281–87 – Konrad von Würzburg uses fest in the Trojanerkrieg.^[7][5]
• 1544 – Luther writes of the feast of the Circumcision of Christ.^[6]
• 1616 – Henisch records festlich.^[9]
• 18th century – The French form Fete comes into use.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A celebration, party or festival, a (large) social event: Zum Jubiläum gab der Verein ein großes Fest.^[10][1][11]
2. A church feast, one or two consecutive high holy days such as Christmas, Easter or Whitsun: Frohes Fest!^[10]

Word family

• festlich
• Festlichkeit
• Festtag
• Festspiel
• Volksfest
• Weihnachtsfest
• Osterfest

Related words

• Feier
• Ferien
• Fete
• English feast

Usage notes

Man muss die Feste feiern, wie sie fallen, “one must celebrate feasts as they come”, means one should not let a good occasion pass.^[10] Colloquially and jokingly es ist mir ein Fest means “it is a great pleasure”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 289
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 265
5. ^ a b c d e f Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 1561
6. ^ a b c 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, 386
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org