Etymologically
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Frage

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈfʁaːɡə/[1]

Forms

Frage f (genitive Frage, plural Fragen)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vrāge, inherited from Old High German frāga, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frāgu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frēgō (“question”).[2][1][3] Pfeifer and the Duden count the noun as found only in German and Dutch (Dutch vraag);[4][5] the revised Grimm dictionary also lists Old Frisian frēge.[6] Old Saxon has only the verb frāgon.[2][4] It is an abstract noun with the lengthened vowel grade of a strong verb Proto-Germanic *frehnaną (“to ask”), lost in German but kept in Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌽 (fraihnan), Old Norse fregna and Old English frignan;[2][3][5] Old High German has it only in the Wessobrunn Prayer, as gafregin.[2][3][5] The verb fragen was formed from the noun, although it is better attested.[2][4][3]

The root is Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask”), also in Latin precor (“I ask, pray”), Old Church Slavonic просити (prositi, “to ask for”) and Lithuanian piršti (“to woo for someone”).[2][4][1] An extended form of the same root is behind forschen.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates a rarer form frāha to about 800 and frāga to the 9th century;[4][7] Köbler's first record is a gloss of the second quarter of the 9th century.[4][7] Otfrid (863–871) and Notker use it for “question”, and it also meant “inquiry” and “thesis, proposition”.[6][8][7]

Semantic evolution

In the older language of the courts Frage meant “interrogation”;[9] peinliche Frage was still “torture” in Adelung, and Frage und Antwort remained a formula into the 19th century.[9] From the 18th century fixed phrases multiplied: es ist die Frage, ob “it is uncertain whether”, later ohne Frage “certainly”, in Frage kommen and in Frage stellen.[9]

Fragezeichen (16th century) translates Latin signum interrogationis.[4][5] fragwürdig, first “worth asking about”, was formed by A. W. Schlegel to render English questionable in his translation of Hamlet, and later came to mean “doubtful”.[4][5][10] The word was borrowed into Yiddish as פֿראַגע (frage).[1]

Timeline

  • c. 800 – The rarer form frāha is recorded.[4]
  • 2nd quarter of the 9th century – frāga appears in glosses.[7]
  • 863–871 – Otfrid uses fraga “question”.[6]
  • 16th century – Fragezeichen is formed after Latin.[4][5]
  • Early 17th century – fraglich appears, common only in the 19th century.[4]
  • Late 18th century – A. W. Schlegel coins fragwürdig.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A question, an utterance asking for an answer: eine Frage stellen.[11][1]
  2. An issue, a problem or matter to be discussed or settled: eine Frage der Zeit.[11][1]

Word family

  • fragen
  • fraglich
  • fraglos
  • fragwürdig
  • Fragezeichen
  • Fragebogen
  • Fragestellung
  • Gegenfrage
  • Nachfrage
  • Umfrage
  • Gretchenfrage
  • Vertrauensfrage
  • forschen
  • prekär

Usage notes

Das kommt nicht in Frage means “that is out of the question”, and ohne Frage means “without doubt”.[11][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 313
  3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  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, 857
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 112
  9. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  10. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  11. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag