Geschichte

Forms

Geschichte f (genitive Geschichte, plural Geschichten, diminutive Geschichtchen n or Geschichtlein n or Geschichtl n or Geschichterl n)^[1] Middle High German geschiht was feminine; from about 1300 a neuter daʒ geschichte, geschicht appears in Central German sources, and Luther usually wrote das Geschicht.^[2][3] From the 17th century the feminine die Geschichte, plural Geschichten, gradually prevailed.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German geschiht, inherited from Old High German giskiht (“event, chance”), an abstract noun with a /t/ suffix formed from the verb that is now geschehen, so that it first meant “what happens”.^[4][3][5] The word is found only in German.^[3][5] It is not related to Schicht.^[1]

The verb, Old High German giskehan, is a prefixed form of Old High German scehan (“to roam, hurry”), from Proto-Germanic *skehaną;^[4][3][1] Kluge concludes that it was originally a verb of running, “to run its course”.^[4][3][1] Outside Germanic, Kluge and Pfeifer compare Old Irish scuichid (“moves, departs”) and Russian скочить (skočítʹ, “to jump”), and Pfeifer sets up a root Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek- (“to jump, move quickly”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German giskiht is recorded in Notker, about 1000, and in glosses, meaning “happening, event, occurrence, fate, chance, circumstances”.^[6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German geschiht also meant “divine dispensation”, “sequence of events”, “affair, thing” and “quality, manner”.^[3][5] From the 15th or 16th century it was used for an oral or written account of something that happened or was invented, a story, and was equated with Historie.^[5][3][7] Luther in 1521 calls the gospel ein schlecht leicht historien odder geschicht “a plain, simple history or story”.^[7]

The plural Geschichten (14th century) referred to memorable events concerning a place, a people or a person, understood as a series; from it a new collective singular developed in the 17th century, as in die teutsche Geschichte und Sprache (1644), covering both the events and the account of them.^[3][7] In the 18th century Kant, Herder and Schiller made it the name of a science, and the Duden gives Herder the main part.^[3][5] In colloquial use Geschichte can also mean an awkward affair.^[7][8] English world history (1837) was modelled on Weltgeschichte.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old High German giskiht is used by Notker.^[6][3]
• c. 1300 – A neuter geschichte appears in Central German.^[2]
• 14th century – The plural Geschichten is used for memorable events.^[3]
• 1521 – Luther uses geschicht for “story”.^[7]
• 1644 – die teutsche Geschichte shows the new collective singular.^[3]
• 17th century – The adjective geschichtlich appears.^[3]
• 18th century – Geschichte becomes the name of a science.^[3]
• 1837 – English world history is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. history, the political, cultural and social development of a region, people or field: die Geschichte Europas.^[8][1]
2. History as a science or school subject.^[8][10]
3. A scholarly account of a historical development.^[8]
4. A story, an oral or written account of real or invented events: eine Geschichte vorlesen.^[8][1]
5. (colloquial) An (unpleasant) affair or business: eine ärgerliche Geschichte.^[8][10]

Word family

• geschichtlich
• Geschichtsschreibung
• Geschichtsklitterung
• Vorgeschichte
• Weltgeschichte
• Naturgeschichte
• Zeitgeschichte
• Kurzgeschichte
• Liebesgeschichte

Related words

• geschehen
• schicken

Usage notes

Geschichte machen “to make history” is to do something of decisive importance.^[8] The plural Geschichten is colloquial for fuss or nonsense, as in Mach keine Geschichten!^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. 5, 3857
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 352
5. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 333
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
8. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
10. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org