Gefühl

Forms

Gefühl n (genitive Gefühls or Gefühles, plural Gefühle)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from German ge- + fühlen in the second half of the 17th century, probably on the model of the older Gehör and Gesicht.^[2][3][1] The Grimms point out that the word is Central German, Low German and Dutch rather than Upper German in origin, and Wiktionary suggests it may copy Dutch gevoel, recorded somewhat earlier.^[4][1] It replaced the older feminine Fühle, Middle High German vüele.^[2][3]

The verb is vüelen, Old High German fuolen, from Proto-West Germanic *fōlijan (“to feel”), also found in Old Saxon gifōlian, Old English fēlan and Old Frisian fēla, and with another ablaut grade in Old Norse falma (“to grope”).^[5][2][6] Its origin is uncertain.^[2] Kluge compares Latin palpor (“to stroke, flatter”), but finds these connections in need of clarification.^[5] Pfeifer mentions two proposals: a link with pollex (“thumb”) and Russian палец (palec, “finger”), from a root Proto-Indo-European *pōl- (“swollen, thick”), so that the verb first meant “to touch with the thumb or finger”, or a link with palma (“palm of the hand”) and Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm”), which meets serious objections of sound and sense.^[2] The same verb is English feel.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first recorded in 1674.^[3] It is still missing from early 17th-century dictionaries, but Krämer's German–Italian dictionary of 1678 gives it in full use, for the sense of touch and for feeling;^[4] Stieler (1691) mentions gefüle only in passing, and the Swiss Denzler (1716) does not have it.^[4] Formed like Gehör, it first named the sense of touch.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the sense of touch the word widened to any bodily sensation, as in Hungergefühl or Schwindelgefühl, and was transferred to a sense or flair for something, as in Sprachgefühl and Fingerspitzengefühl, and to a hunch.^[3] In the 18th century it became a key term of philosophy, where Tetens (1777) saw feeling as a faculty of knowledge, and a catchword of the age of sensibility and of the Sturm und Drang.^[3] Das höchste der Gefühle “the utmost one can hope for” goes back to the libretto of Die Zauberflöte (1791), and Schiller spoke of gemischte Gefühle.^[3] The adjective gefühllos (18th century) replaced the older fühllos.^[2] In Upper German speech the verb itself is avoided: Bavarian and Austrian prefer empfinden, Swabian and Alemannic spüren and merken.^[2][6] English took over Sprachgefühl in 1902.^[7]

Timeline

• 1674 – First record of Gefühl.^[3]
• 1678 – Krämer's dictionary gives the word for the sense of touch and feeling.^[4]
• 1777 – Tetens treats feeling as a faculty of knowledge.^[3]
• 1791 – Das höchste der Gefühle in Die Zauberflöte.^[3]
• 18th century – gefühllos replaces fühllos.^[2]
• 1902 – Sprachgefühl is recorded in English.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A physical sensation carried by the nerves; the sense of touch: Nach dem Sturz hatte er kein Gefühl mehr im linken Fuß.^[8][1]
2. An emotion, a movement of the mind that colours one's attitude to the world: Ein warmes Gefühl der Zuneigung stieg in ihm auf. mit gemischten Gefühlen, with mixed feelings.^[8][1]
3. A sense or instinct for something: Sie hat ein gutes Gefühl für Farben.^[1][3]
4. A hunch, an impression not based on reasoning: Ich habe das Gefühl, dass heute noch etwas passiert.^[9][3]

Word family

• gefühllos
• gefühlvoll
• gefühlsbetont
• Gefühlsregung
• Sprachgefühl
• Fingerspitzengefühl
• Hochgefühl
• Vorgefühl

Related words

• fühlen
• Fühler
• Fühlung

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 2167
5. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 322
6. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 634
7. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
8. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org