Etymologically
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Gesetz

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Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈzɛt͡s/, /ɡ̥eˈsɛt͡s/[1]

Forms

Gesetz n (genitive Gesetzes, plural Gesetze)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gesetze, a noun formed in Middle High German from setzen in the sense “to fix, determine, ordain”, so that it means “what has been laid down”.[2][3][4] Pfeifer also allows a collective formation to Satz.[3] Satzung shows a similar development of sense.[2][4]

The older noun was Old High German gisezzida (“arrangement, decree, law”), continued in Middle High German gesetzede, a verbal abstract of gisezzen with the suffix -ida;[5][2] the same noun is Old Saxon gisetitha.[5][2] The verb continues Proto-West Germanic *sattjan (“to set, put down”).[1] The word is found only in German.[3] The new noun gradually displaced the older one, and also Old High German ēwa (“law”), the old West Germanic word for law, which survives in Ehe.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German gisezzida is recorded from glosses of about 765 and in Notker, with senses such as arrangement, institution, decree and law, rendering Latin lex, decretum and statutum.[6][5] Middle High German gesetze appears about 1200–1210 in Wolfram's Parzival, meaning a fixed rule, ordinance or decree.[7]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German gesatz was very common in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the spelling Gesätz arose under its influence.[3][8] Luther still wrote das gesetze beside gesetz.[8] In religious use das Gesetz was the law of God and especially the five books of Moses.[9]

As a legal term it became established from Middle High German on;[9] Adelung defined it in 1775, in the spirit of absolutism, as a general rule of a superior backed by punishment.[9] With the Enlightenment and the constitutional state the modern sense developed, a rule passed with the consent of the representatives of the people, contrasted with an ordinance (Verordnung).[9] The sense “law of nature, principle governing phenomena” stands beside it.[10][1] Ungeschriebenes Gesetz (18th century), a rule that has grown out of custom, follows Ancient Greek ἄγραφος νόμος (ágraphos nómos, “unwritten law”).[3]

Timeline

  • About 765 – Old High German gisezzida appears in glosses.[6]
  • 1200–1210 – Middle High German gesetze in Wolfram's Parzival.[7]
  • 14th century – Gesetzbuch and, according to Pfeifer, Gesetzgeber are recorded.[3]
  • 1376 – gesatz in the Augsburg chronicles.[8]
  • 15th century – gesetzlich is recorded.[3][4]
  • 18th century – gesetzwidrig and ungeschriebenes Gesetz are recorded.[3]
  • 1819 – A constitution states that no law can be passed without the consent of the estates.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A law or statute: a legally binding rule laid down by the state: Das neue Gesetz tritt im Januar in Kraft.[10][1]
  2. (colloquial) A law book, a collection of laws: Das steht so im Gesetz.[10][1]
  3. A law of nature or principle inherent in something, a fixed connection between phenomena: das Gesetz von Angebot und Nachfrage.[10][1]
  4. A fixed rule or guiding principle: Pünktlichkeit war für sie oberstes Gesetz.[10][11]

Word family

  • gesetzlich
  • Gesetzbuch
  • Gesetzgeber
  • Gesetzgebung
  • Gesetzentwurf
  • gesetzmäßig
  • gesetzwidrig
  • gesetzlos
  • Grundgesetz

Usage notes

Vor dem Gesetz sind alle gleich (“all are equal before the law”) echoes Article 3 of the Grundgesetz.[9][10] Das Gesetz der Serie is the supposed likelihood that something that has always happened will go on happening, and ein Gesetz der Meder und Perser an unalterable rule.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 354
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 335
  5. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 390
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ 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, 4070
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org