Gruß

Forms

Gruß m (genitive Grußes, plural Grüße, diminutive Grüßchen n or Grüßlein n)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gruoz (“greeting; challenge, attack”), a back-formation from grüßen.^[2][3][4][5] The verb is Middle High German grüezen, Old High German gruozen (“to address; to challenge, attack”), Old Saxon grōtian (“to address, ask”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōtjan.^[4][3][6] The same verb is Dutch groeten, Old Frisian grēta, Old English grētan (“to challenge, attack, greet”), English greet and Old Norse grœta (“to make weep”).^[3][6][4]

Pfeifer, the Duden and Kroonen take it as the causative, “to make cry out”, of the strong verb Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan, “to weep”), gráta and Old Saxon grātan; the West Germanic senses would have come from “cry out” through “take leave”.^[3][5][6] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰroh₁d-éye-.^[6] Kluge finds the meanings too far apart to connect and considers instead a borrowing from the family of Latin grātus (“welcome, pleasing”), though no exact Latin model exists.^[4] Pfeifer calls the further origin uncertain: the verbs may be imitative, like grell and Groll, and a sound root Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- is possible but not compelling.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German gruoz is recorded from the 12th century,^[7] with a range of senses from friendly address, welcome and favour to incitement, challenge, attack and accusation.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The hostile senses that the noun and the verb had in Middle High German, “challenge, attack, accusation”, have disappeared; the modern word means the words or gestures of courtesy on meeting or parting, a message of remembrance sent through another, and the closing formula of a letter.^[3][2]

Several fixed phrases name particular greetings: der Englische Gruß is the Ave Maria, the angel's greeting to Mary;^[2] der deutsche Gruß was the Nazi salute with the raised right arm, and mit deutschem Gruß a closing formula of letters; in the GDR letters could end mit sozialistischem Gruß.^[2] Ein Gruß aus der Küche is an amuse-bouche.^[2]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German gruozen “to address, challenge”.^[4]
• 12th century – Middle High German gruoz.^[7]
• 1272 – gruoz in a charter.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A greeting, salute: words or gestures of courtesy on meeting or parting: Er nickte zum Gruß.^[2][1]
2. Greetings sent to someone as a sign of friendship or remembrance; a closing formula in letters: Viele Grüße an deine Schwester!;^[2][1][8] mit freundlichen Grüßen.^[2][1][8]

Word family

• Gegengruß
• Abschiedsgruß
• Grußformel
• Grußwort
• grußlos
• Hitlergruß

Related words

• grüßen
• begrüßen
• English greet

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 379
5. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org