Etymologically
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Gefahr

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈfaːɐ̯/[1]

Forms

Gefahr f (genitive Gefahr, plural Gefahren)[1] The simple form Fahr, frequent in Luther, was still used until the 18th century, also by Wieland, Herder, Goethe and Schiller.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gevāre (“ambush; deceit”), a form strengthened with the prefix ge- of vāre (“ambush, malice”), inherited from Old High German fāra (“ambush, snare”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *fērō (“danger”).[4][5][1] The prefixed form appears only in the 14th and 15th centuries.[4][3] The same simple noun is Old Saxon fār (“ambush”), Old Norse fár (“hostility, deceit”) and Old English fǣr, which became English fear.[4][5] Kluge reconstructs it as Proto-Germanic *fǣrō.[4]

It is a noun with lengthened grade from a root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to try, risk”), which is also in Latin perīculum (“danger, trial”), experīmentum (“test”) and Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “attempt, trial”).[4][5][6] Pfeifer assumes a development from “treacherous attempt” through “ambush” to “threatening harm”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German fāra is recorded in Otfrid (863–871), Notker and glosses, meaning “ambush, snare, persecution, temptation, treachery”, and also “danger”.[7][8] Middle High German gevāre meant “ambush, deceit, malice”.[4][9]

Semantic evolution

The present meaning arose when the word was applied to the situation of the person against whom the ambush was aimed, and then also to threats from natural forces with no intention behind them.[2] In the 17th century one could still speak of the gefahr der feinde in the old active sense.[10]

In commercial and legal language it means “risk”: auf jemandes Gefahr is recorded from 1678 and auf eigene Gefahr “at one's own risk” from 1716.[2] Gefahr laufen “to run the risk” (1716) was probably modelled on French courir risque.[2][9] The old meaning “malice” survives in ungefähr, from the legal formula âne gevære “without deceit”.[2][4]

Timeline

  • 863–871 – Otfrid uses Old High German fāra.[7]
  • 14th–15th century – The prefixed form gevāre appears.[3][4]
  • 1678 – Auf jemandes Gefahr “at someone's risk” in commercial language.[2]
  • 1716 – Auf eigene Gefahr and Gefahr laufen are recorded.[2]
  • Late 18th century – Adelung records the simple Fahr as an older word.[11][2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. danger, peril: the possibility that harm will happen to someone or something: Bei Glatteis besteht Gefahr für Radfahrer.[9][1]
  2. A threat: someone or something that endangers others: Der Fahrer war eine Gefahr für den Verkehr.[9][1]
  3. (commerce) risk: auf Rechnung und Gefahr des Käufers.[9][2]

Word family

  • ungefähr
  • willfahren
  • Fährnis
  • English fear

Usage notes

Set phrases include Gefahr laufen “to run the risk”, auf eigene Gefahr “at one's own risk” and außer Gefahr sein “to be out of danger”.[9] The proverb wer sich in Gefahr begibt, kommt darin um goes back to Sirach 3:27.[9] Die gelbe Gefahr “the yellow peril” arose at the end of the 19th century, perhaps after French le péril jaune.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 4, 2061
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 339
  5. ^ a b c d Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 306
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 96
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 4, 2060
  11. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf