Geld

Forms

Geld n (genitive Geldes or Gelds, plural Gelder)^[1] The modern d comes from the inflected forms such as Middle High German geldes, while the uninflected gelt remained in use until the 17th century and in Upper German into the 18th.^[2][3] It is still kept in Entgelt.^[2][4] The plural Gelder appears in the 17th century.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gelt, inherited from Old High German gelt (“payment, reward”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *geld, inherited from Proto-Germanic *geldą (“payment, reward”).^[5][2][1] The same word is Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌳 (gild, “tax, tribute”), Old Norse gjald (“payment, tribute”), Old English gield (“sacrifice, payment, tribute”), Old Frisian jeld (“purchase price”) and Old Saxon geld (“reward, sacrifice”), and today Dutch geld and Swedish gäld (“debt”).^[5][2][6][1] It is a noun formed to the verb gelten, originally “to pay, compensate”.^[5][2][7][4] Wiktionary traces the Germanic verb to Proto-Indo-European *gʰeldʰ- (“to pay”), a root which Köbler marks as doubtful and which is found only in Germanic and Slavic.^[1][8] English yield belongs to the same verb.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German gelt is first recorded in glosses at the end of the 8th century, and then in the Frankish baptismal vow, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “tax, interest, fine, payment, reward, offering”.^[8][9][10] Old Saxon geld could mean “sacrifice”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first belonged to cult and law: it was what one gave as an offering, a penance or a tribute, as Gilde also shows.^[2][7][4] It then meant “payment, due”, a sense kept in compounds such as Lehrgeld, Schulgeld, Brückengeld and Fersengeld, which speakers no longer analyse so.^[4][2] Middle High German gelt meant “payment, compensation, income, debt, price” and also “means of payment”.^[2][7] The restriction to coined money began in the 14th century and prevailed in the 16th.^[5][4]

Paper money followed coins, and Papiergeld (early 18th century) was formed after English paper money and French papier-monnaie.^[2] Money gave rise to many colloquial names, such as Kies, Kohle, Moos, Moneten, Pinke and Zaster, and to proverbs such as Geld regiert die Welt and Zeit ist Geld.^[2][7][4] Wahrig explains Geld aus etwas herausschlagen “to make money out of something” from minting by hand, when many coins were struck from one piece of metal.^[11] English borrowed gelt “payment” in 1529.^[12]

Timeline

• End of the 8th century – Old High German gelt appears in glosses.^[8]
• 14th century – The sense “coined money” appears.^[5][2]
• 15th century – Geldstrafe “fine” is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1529 – English gelt is recorded.^[12]
• 16th century – The sense “money” prevails.^[4]
• 17th century – The plural Gelder appears, and the spelling with t gives way.^[2]
• Early 18th century – Papiergeld is formed.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. money, coins and banknotes issued as a means of payment: sein Geld sparen.^[13][1]
2. (usually plural) A large sum intended for a purpose, funds: öffentliche Gelder.^[13]
3. (stock exchange) Short for Geldkurs, the bid price.^[13]

Word family

• geldlich
• Geldbeutel
• Geldbörse
• geldgierig
• Geldsack
• Geldschrank
• Geldstrafe
• Geldsumme
• Papiergeld
• Trinkgeld
• Lehrgeld
• Schulgeld
• Fersengeld
• Wergeld

Related words

• gelten
• Entgelt
• vergelten
• Gilde
• English yield

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 h i j k l m n o p 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 2889
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 343
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 152
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 125
11. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
12. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
13. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag