Höhe

Forms

Höhe f (genitive Höhe, plural Höhen)^[1] Older German also had höche and, without umlaut, hoch.^[2] Alemannic had a plural höhinen, and Luther used a plural höhe beside höhen.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German hœhe, inherited from Old High German hōhī, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hauhī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hauhį̄ (“height”), an abstract noun formed from the adjective *hauhaz (“high”), continued in hoch.^[1][3][4] The same noun is Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌴𐌹 (hauhei) and Old Saxon hōhi.^[5] Middle High German also had a form without umlaut, hōhe.^[5]

The adjective is Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐌷𐍃 (hauhs), Old Norse hár, Old English hēah and Old Frisian hāch, and in the modern languages Dutch hoog, English high and Swedish hög.^[6][7] Its further origin is unclear.^[6] Kluge compares, with a different ending, Tocharian A koc and Tocharian B kauc “high, upwards”, and prefers a link with Ancient Greek κύριος (kúrios, “lord, master”) and Welsh cawr (“giant”) under Proto-Indo-European *ḱou-ko- “big, strong” to a link with Hügel.^[6] Pfeifer and the Duden dictionary, on the contrary, put the adjective together with that noun under Proto-Indo-European *keuk-, an extension of Proto-Indo-European *keu- (“to bend”), so that “high” would first have meant “arched”.^[5][3] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *kóuk-o- and points to a variant with Verner's law in Old Norse haugr (“hill”) and Lithuanian kaũkas (“bump”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German hōhī is recorded from the 8th century.^[5][8] In Tatian, Otfrid, Notker, Williram and the Murbach hymns it meant “height, size”, “majesty, sublimity”, “summit, hill” and the pitch of a note.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Paul traces the senses from vertical extent (die Höhe eines Hauses) to a point above a surface (in die Höhe heben, Gott in der Höhe), then to the top of something and to a hill, for which Anhöhe is now more usual outside military language.^[10] Pfeifer dates Anhöhe to the 17th century, the Duden dictionary to the 18th.^[5][3] The word was then applied to latitude (auf der Höhe von Teneriffa), to sound, to time (die Höhe des Tages) and to size (die Höhe der Preise).^[10] Adelung already defines the height of a figure in geometry and the altitude of a star in astronomy.^[11]

In the older language Höhe and Hoheit were not clearly separated;^[2] Hoheit later kept the figurative sense with the idea of dignity.^[2] The Grimms called auf der Höhe der Zeit a fashionable phrase.^[10] The indignant das ist die Höhe! goes back to the ironic das ist die rechte Höhe of the early 17th century, the “right height” being the measure into which something should fit.^[10][4]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German hōhī is recorded.^[5]
• Early 17th century – The ironic phrase das ist die rechte Höhe.^[10]
• 17th century – Anhöhe “hill, rise” appears, according to Pfeifer.^[5]
• 18th century – Anhöhe is recorded, according to the Duden dictionary.^[3]
• 1793 – Adelung records the geometric and astronomical senses.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. height, vertical extent: Der Schrank hat eine Höhe von zwei Metern.^[4][1]
2. altitude, distance above the ground or sea level: Die Hütte liegt in 1800 Metern Höhe.^[4][1]
3. in die Höhe: upwards: den Koffer in die Höhe heben.^[4]
4. A hill, rise: Auf den Höhen liegt schon Schnee.^[4][8]
5. A high point, peak: auf der Höhe seiner Karriere.^[4][8]
6. An amount or level that can be measured: eine Strafe in Höhe von 500 Euro.^[4][8]
7. (geography) latitude, a position level with a place: auf der Höhe von Hamburg.^[8][10]
8. (geometry) The altitude of a triangle or the height of a solid.^[8][11]
9. (music) The pitch of a note.^[10][11]

Word family

• Anhöhe
• Höhepunkt

Related words

• hoch
• Hoheit
• erhöhen
• Hügel
• English high

Usage notes

Das ist ja die Höhe! (colloquial) means “that is outrageous”.^[4] In die Höhe gehen is to flare up, and nicht auf der Höhe sein is to feel unwell or not at one's best.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 10, 1705
3. ^ a b c d Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 419
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 155
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ a b c d Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 1251