Gedanke

Forms

Gedanke m (genitive Gedankens or (nonstandard but common) Gedanken, plural Gedanken)^[1] Adelung notes that some speakers used a nominative der Gedanken, genitive des Gedankens.^[2] Duden marks this form as obsolete.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gedanc, inherited from Old High German gidanc, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *ga-þanka- (“thought”).^[4][5] The same word is Old Saxon githanko, Middle Low German gedanke, Middle Dutch gedanc and Old English geþanc.^[4][5][6] It is an old verbal noun of denken, formed without that verb's suffix ⟨-j-⟩, which suggests an early formation.^[4] The verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *þankijaną (“to think”), also in Gothic 𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þagkjan) and Old English þencan.^[7] Kluge compares Latin tongeō (“to know”) and suggests that thinking was first “weighing”.^[7]

Old High German had a strong noun, while the weak forms of modern German seem to have come from the north, from Old Saxon and Low German.^[4][6] The Scandinavian words, such as Swedish tanke, Danish tanke and Icelandic þanki, were borrowed from Low German.^[6][8] In English the word was replaced by thought, which matches the participle gedacht.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German gidanc is recorded from the end of the 8th century, in glosses and in the Isidor translation, and then in Otfrid, Notker, the Benedictine Rule and several confessions.^[9][6][10] It meant “thought, thinking, mind, disposition, intention, insight”, glossing Latin cogitatio, intentio and intellectus.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century Gedanke could also mean “soul, mind” in general.^[11] It came to stand for the process of thinking, as in Luther's Sirach: fallen jm mancherley Gedancken für (“many thoughts come to him”), and for what is thought, the result of thinking.^[11] Sich Gedanken machen “to worry” dates from the first half of the 17th century, and jemanden auf andere Gedanken bringen “to distract someone” is in Kramer's dictionary of 1700.^[11]

The Gedankenstrich (dash), recorded in the 18th century, marks where thoughts break off or are inserted.^[4][5] Gedankenfreiheit “freedom of thought” also dates from the 18th century, in Schiller.^[5][12]

Timeline

• Late 8th century – Old High German gidanc appears in glosses and the Isidor translation.^[9][6]
• 16th century – The general sense “soul, mind” goes out of use.^[11]
• First half of the 17th century – sich Gedanken machen “to worry” is recorded.^[11]
• 1700 – Kramer records auf andere Gedanken bringen.^[11]
• 18th century – Gedankenstrich and Gedankenfreiheit appear.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thought: something that is or has been thought; a consideration.^[3][1]
2. The thinking about something, the thought of it: schon der Gedanke an die Prüfung “the mere thought of the exam”.^[3]
3. (plural) An opinion or view.^[3]
4. An idea, a plan or intention.^[3][1]
5. A concept, a guiding idea.^[3][1]

Word family

• gedankenlos
• Gedankenfreiheit
• Gedankenstrich
• gedanklich
• Hintergedanke

Related words

• denken

Usage notes

Sich Gedanken machen means “to worry” (about someone or something) or “to think something over”;^[3][11] in Gedanken versunken sein is to be lost in thought.^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 461
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 338
5. ^ a b c d e Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 229
7. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 190
8. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 4, 1940
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 67
11. ^ 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
12. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag